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13 diciembre 2010
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TECHCRUNCH
robinw13 DIC 2010 09:14A.M.
iYogi, an independent remote consumer tech support company based
in India and New York, this morning announced that is has secured
$30 million in a fresh round of financing, led by Sequoia Capital
India, with existing investors Canaan, SVB Capital Partners, SAP
Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson participating.
The round comes less than a year after investors injected $15 million
into the company – iYogo has raised a total of $57.6 million to date.
iYogi says it plans to use the proceeds to expand its on-demand
remote tech support services outside the existing consumer market
and the Windows OS platform, and to address the growing need for
supporting mobile consumer devices.
iYogi’s planned roll-out to new geographies include launching its tech
support services in Europe, the Middle East and India, in addition to
its existing services in North America, Canada, the UK and Australia.
The company says it has solved more than 2 million tech problems for
consumers since its inception – it claims 300 percent growth for its
premium annual subscription service in the past 12 months alone. To
support its growth, iYogi this year increased its force of “Global Tech
Experts” from 1,200 to more than 5,000, across eight new centers in
multiple geographies.
CrunchBase Information
iYogi
Information provided by CrunchBase
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Multitouch Pioneer Jeff HanStarts to Think Small (Devices)[Mobilized]13 DIC 2010 09:00A.M.
For years now, Jeff Han has been working on large-screen multitouch
displays.
Han and his company, Perceptive Pixel, are best known for creating
the giant touch wall that John King and others at CNN use to break
down the elections.
While Apple, Microsoft and others have targeted consumers,
Perceptive Pixel has focused on niche professional markets, especially
the defense and government sector.
But, after years of watching the small touch-screen device market
from the sidelines, Han said he thinks he is pretty close to creating his
first products that will run on those devices.
“Mobile is interesting,” he said in an interview last month at his New
York offices (They are in the Manhattan building that Google is
buying with an amazing roof view seen below). “How can you ignore a
billion devices being sold every year.”
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Han said there is a reason he has stayed focused on the high end of
the market.
“I have a personal bias,” he told Mobilized. “I want computers to be
functional, not just playful.”
The modern tablet, he said, is the first consumer device that has
enough pixels and the precision sensors to potentially be of interest to
Perceptive Pixel. In particular, Han said he is intrigued by the idea of
using tablets to allow meeting participants to interact with a nearby
larger touch screens that might be in use by someone leading a
meeting.
“We’re looking at mobile and slate devices as a way to tie into this
family of collaboration (products),” he said, noting that’s where it is
spending its energy when it comes to mobile, as opposed to coming up
with some killer app that works only on smaller screens. “There are a
lot of smart people creating mobile apps.”
Han said his first mobile efforts should come out early next year–in
the first quarter or early in the second quarter, though he wouldn’t
give more specifics.
Whatever Perceptive Pixel ends up doing in the tablet space, Han said
his plan is to eventually have it support multiple operating systems,
though Han said the company will probably only qualify certain
devices. So far, he said, Apple’s iOS and the iPad seem best suited to
the applications he has in mind, while the real-time touch
performance on Android has certain issues.
“We’re not going to just let it run on anything out there,” he said.
“Some of them just can’t guarantee a good user interface.”
[ See post to watch video ]
TECHCRUNCH
db13 DIC 2010 09:00A.M.
When DailyBooth finally released an iPhone app back in July, it made
a lot of sense. After all, the iPhone 4 had just been released and it
featured a front-facing camera for the first time — the perfect tool for
a service which asks you to take pictures of yourself. Unfortunately,
while the idea was right, DailyBooth’s first iPhone app just wasn’t very
good. So the completely redid it. And I’m happy to report that version
2 is finally one worthy of your gaze.
While the first app was a basic way to scan DailyBooth and upload
simple pictures of yourself, version 2 includes many more of the
service’s core features. This includes a live feed, profile views, activity
views, messages, following/follower views, friend finding, and
“ghosting”.
The first and the last features are really cool. The live feed
automatically refreshes as new DailyBooth pictures come in. Not too
many iPhone apps utilize this live view, but it works for DailyBooth as
pictures are quick scan items — and they come in slightly slower than
text-based messages.
The other excellent feature is “ghosting”. A big part of DailyBooth is
looking at someone’s picture then mimicking it in the replies. The
ghosting feature allows you to easily do this as it shows you a slightly
transparent version of the picture your trying to mimic, so you can
line yourself up with it.
While DailyBooth could technically be lumped into the latest craze of
picture taking apps, CEO Brian Pokorny likes to distinguish it as a
“front of the phone” app versus the others which are “back of the
phone” apps. Obviously, he’s talking about the camera there.
It is interesting just how DailyBooth users utilize pictures to
communicate through images of themselves, rather than of other
things. And now they finally have a solid app to do it with. You can
find the new app here in the App Store.
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GIGAOMTECH
dailybooth313 DIC 2010 09:00A.M.
Brian Pokorny, CEO of DailyBooth
DailyBooth, a San Francisco-based social photo sharing service is
making the much-awaited leap from the web to the mobile Internet by
launching the final version of its iPhone app. The company had
launched a beta version of its app earlier this year. This new enhanced
version of the app replicates DailyBooth’s web features such as a live
feed, comments and follow/following on the small screen.
“We’ve started over and built this from the ground up,” said CEO
Brian Pokorny, who before joining the company was a well-known
Silicon Valley investor with Ron Conway’s SV Angel. “In addition to
the iPhone, the app will be great for all of the new iPod Touch
(devices) launched a few months ago that all have a front facing
camera,” he added.
DailyBooth, co-founded by Ryan Amos and Jon Wheatley and initially
incubated by YCombinator, was able to raise $1 million in seed
funding from the likes of Sequoia Capital, Betaworks and angel
investors such as Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake and ex-Googler,
Chris Sacca.
Android Coming Soon
The company is planning on releasing an Android app soon. “Android
is currently in the works right now,” Pokorny said, pointing out that
with more smartphones coming to market with front-facing cameras,
it makes more sense for DailyBooth to support them. There has been
an explosion in the number of mobile photo sharing applications, with
well-known venture capitalists opening their checkbooks for such
companies.
Frankly, I have been surprised that DailyBooth hasn’t pushed into the
mobile arena more aggressively, a question I posted to Pokorny when
I ran into him a few weeks ago. After all, DailyBooth is growing at a
rapid clip on the web. This Twitter-meets-Flickr like service is a
lightweight social network that has found favor with the younger
demographic, one of the main reasons it has grown so rapidly. It
works well because it allows folks to easily share their daily lives
through pictures and short pithy comments.
Front Camera Revolution
However, as much as it has been successful on the web, it has been
noticeably missing on the mobile front, giving opportunity to new
mobile-only photo services such as PicPlz and Instagram. Pokorny
doesn’t see those services as his competitors, mostly because he sees
DailyBooth as a “front of the phone” app” while others are “back of the
phone apps.” (Nevertheless, no one can take Instagram lightly, which
has been growing at a breakneck speed.)
“The content generated from these apps are primarily objects while
the content from DailyBooth is all about people and faces,” he argued.
“The user base is also different, as our users are predominantly under
the age of 25 and view the Internet as an extension of their lives. They
are comfortable with face communication, as many of have grown up
with web cams as the norm.”
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Just as YouTube is about broadcasting videos and Apple’s Facetime is
about communication, DailyBooth is about communication through
the medium of pictures. Pokorny said DailyBooth is much more “of a
new type of platform for social communication through pictures via
photo comments back and forth between users,” versus back-of-the-
phone apps, which “offer a broadcast style communication or
a window into what your friends are currently looking at.”
I think Pokorny makes a good point, though I wouldn’t call
DailyBooth a means of communication. I see it more as asynchronous
interaction. I find it fascinating how different demographic groups
adapt the Internet to interact differently. Nevertheless, it would be
interesting to see how successful DailyBooth is on mobile. It certainly
has the makings of what I think is a good mobile photo service – it is
“a unique and more immersive, two-way service” that is designed
from the perspective of the “mobile user.”
Related GigaOM Pro Research (sub req’d):
• How to Market Your iPhone App
• App Developers Are You Ready for HTML5 and Metered Data?
• Why Google Launched App Inventor
DailyBooth @ Web 2.0 2010
View more presentations from DailyBooth.
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Dell To Acquire Compellent[NewEnterprise]13 DIC 2010 08:21A.M.
Three months after losing a bidding war for storage company 3Par to
Hewlett-Packard, Dell said today it has reached a deal to acquire
Compellent, another storage company. Dell will pay $27.75 a share, or
about $960 million. This is higher than what Dell said it expected to
pay when it announced that talks were underway last week.
It’s the latest move in the roll-up of storage companies by larger IT
providers. The wrestling match over 3Par had driven up Compellent’s
share price, and prior deals by IBM for Netezza and EMC’s grab of
Isilon Systems. Something tells me it won’t be the last.
Here’s the press release:
Dell to Acquire Compellent
* Fast-Growing Compellent Technologies, Inc. Provides an
Intelligent, Powerful and Easy to Use Virtualized Storage
Platform
* Compellent’s Channel Focus Will Further Extend Dell’s
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PartnerDirect Relationships, Offering New Set of Storage
Products to All Members
* Transaction Expected to Be Accretive to Dell Non-GAAP
Earnings in Its Fiscal Year 2012
ROUND ROCK, Texas & EDEN PRAIRIE,
Minn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– Dell (NASDAQ:DELL –
News) and Compellent Technologies, Inc. (NYSE:CML –
News) today announced they have entered into a definitive
agreement for Dell to acquire Compellent, a rapidly
growing provider of highly-virtualized storage solutions
with automated data management features, including
tiering and thin provisioning, for enterprise and cloud-
computing environments. The acquisition is the latest
strategic investment by Dell as it expands its portfolio of
enterprise-class storage solutions and is consistent with
Dell’s strategy to help customers better manage data
growth, reduce storage costs and dramatically simplify the
management of IT infrastructure.
The acquisition of Compellent will deliver on Dell’s
commitment to provide its customers solutions that are
open, capable and affordable. Dell delivers an open and
integrated approach to data management that drives
efficiency and dramatically reduces costs by streamlining
operations.
Upon closing the transaction, Dell will quickly make
Compellent an integral part of its industry-leading storage
portfolio, including PowerVault, EqualLogic and
Dell/EMC. Compellent expands Dell’s award-winning
storage solutions, which now offers customers innovative
systems and choice at every storage tier, from direct-attach
to highly-virtualized SANs.
Dell also plans to keep Compellent’s existing operations in
Eden Prairie, Minn., and will invest in engineering,
support, operations and sales capability to grow this
business.
Compellent sells its solutions through an extensive
network of channel partners. Dell plans to maintain and
enhance the strong channel program that Compellent has
developed. Dell also signed a reseller agreement with
Compellent that extends the storage portfolio it can offer
its worldwide customer base, effective immediately.
Quotes
“Compellent is a natural complement to Dell’s expanding
enterprise storage portfolio. The Compellent storage
platform will enable Dell to provide customers additional
mid- and high-end network storage solutions that simplify
and reduce the cost of data management,” said Brad
Anderson, senior vice president, Enterprise Product
Group. “Compellent’s design focus on intelligently
managing data to increase efficiency, agility and resiliency
is consistent with Dell’s approach of building solutions
that can quickly scale to meet the most demanding
enterprise environment.”
“We are excited about our merger with Dell. This is the
next logical step in our goal to scale our products, channel
and team worldwide,” said Phil Soran, President, CEO and
Chairman of Compellent. “With Dell’s scale and
technology leadership, we accelerate the adoption of our
virtualized platform, Fluid Data, to redefine the value of
enterprise storage for data centers and cloud computing.”
Terms and Closing
Under terms of the agreement, approved by the boards of
directors of both companies, Dell will pay $27.75 per share
in cash for each share of Compellent for a total equity
value of approximately $960 million, and aggregate
purchase price of approximately $820 million, net of
Compellent’s cash. The transaction, which is subject to
approval by Compellent’s shareholders and customary
closing conditions, is expected to close in early 2011.
About Dell
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL – News) listens to customers
and delivers worldwide innovative technology, business
solutions and services they trust and value. For more
information, visit www.dell.com.
About Compellent
Compellent Technologies (NYSE:CML – News) provides
Fluid Data storage solutions that automate the movement
and management of data at a granular level, enabling
organizations to constantly adapt to change, slash costs
and secure information against downtime and disaster.
This patented, built-in storage intelligence delivers
significant efficiency, scalability and flexibility. With an
all-channel sales network in 35 countries, Compellent is
one of the fastest growing enterprise storage companies in
the world. For more information and news, visit
www.compellent.com and www.compellent.com/news.
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TECHCRUNCH
robinw13 DIC 2010 08:17A.M.
Fabulis, the social network for gay men, is now Fab.com, a far more
memorable (domain) name. The young company behind the site,
which is designed to help gay men discover people, places and
activities all over the globe, has also raised $1.75 million in Series A
funding from First Round Capital, The Washington Post Company,
Baroda Ventures and Zelkova Ventures.
The financing comes on top of an earlier $1.25 million in angel
financing, bringing the startup’s total of capital raised to nearly $3
million.
Fab.com has also gotten a number of enhancements, coinciding with
the revamp.
Now over 110,000 members strong, the company has just launched a
global directory of “gay-friendly places” with accompanying rankings,
reviews, tips and photo uploads, complementing the site’s interactive
profiles and database of gay-relevant events.
Fab.com also offers an iPhone app, which includes the ability to check
in, identify your current location, rate places, name the people you’re
with, upload images and more.
The startup says 40% of its members log in at least 10 times per
month, while 25% visit more than 50 times per month. The site
welcomes more than 5,000 new users on a weekly basis.
CrunchBase Information
Fabulis
Information provided by CrunchBase
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Judge Deals Paul Allen aSetback in Patent [Voices]13 DIC 2010 08:00A.M.
By Don Clark, Reporter, The Wall Street Journal
Billionaire investor Paul Allen’s patent lawsuit against some of the
biggest names in high technology ran into a stumbling block as a
federal judge in Seattle dismissed the complaint for not describing its
allegations specifically enough.
U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman on Friday set a Dec. 28 deadline
for the plaintiff, a company controlled by Mr. Allen called Interval
Licensing LLC, to file an amended complaint. A spokesman for Mr.
Allen said it plans to do so soon, calling the judge’s order a
“procedural issue” that won’t halt the case.
The suit, filed in August, names tech companies Google Inc., its
YouTube subsidiary, Apple Inc., Facebook Inc., Yahoo Inc., AOL Inc.,
eBay Inc. and Netflix Inc., as well as OfficeMax Inc. and Staples Inc.,
as defendants. The complaint accuses them of infringing four patents
covering technology developed at Interval Research Corp., a Palo Alto,
Calif., lab and technology incubator that Mr. Allen financed but that
closed down about a decade ago. Mr. Allen is a co-founder of
Microsoft Corp.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
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ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Former AOL Media Boss BillWilson Rounds Up the OldGang [MediaMemo]13 DIC 2010 07:55A.M.
Former AOL content boss Bil Wilson, who left the company early this
year and landed in September at radio owner Townsquare Media, has
been a busy guy.
High up on his to-do list, apparently: Hire a whole lot of people who
worked at his old company. Wilson, who is heading up digital for his
new employer, has brought on 10 former AOL team members, and put
them to work building out new sites.
You can see some of the results today at Taste of Country , a new
music portal meant to compete with the likes of Viacom’s CMT.com,
among others.
And Wilson’s group is also launching new local sites for 30 of the 171
radio stations Townsquare operates. They’re scheduled to overhaul
the remaining 141 stations within the next 3 months.
It will be interesting to see if Townsquare has any luck breaking open
the market for local Web sales. Radio is traditionally driven by local
ad sales (which is one of the reason that Internet radio still hasn’t
really taken off yet after all these years), but radio owners have largely
been content to let their Web assets languish.
Wilson’s team that’s trying to solve that includes Jared Willig, who
used to run Moviefone at AOL; Sun Sachs, formerly VP of Design and
product at AOL Media; and Pete Schieke, former head of AOL Radio.
Wilson was one of the last high-profile AOL execs to leave after
former Google sales boss Tim Armstrong took the reins in the spring
of 2009; he has since restocked the company with a long roster of ex-
Googlers.
TECHCRUNCH
robinw13 DIC 2010 07:43A.M.
Dell has officially announced that it aims to pick up Compellent, a
provider of storage solutions with automated data management
features for enterprise and cloud environments, for $27.75 per share
in cash for each share of Compellent (a total equity value of
approximately $960 million). The aggregate purchase price is about
$820 million, net of Compellent’s cash. This is slightly more than
what Dell initially named as the terms of the merger agreement last
week.
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ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Who Wants Nortel’s 4GPatents? [Digital Daily]13 DIC 2010 06:15A.M.
Nortel was once a cornerstone of the telecom industry. These days it’s
little more than an estate sale, a now-bankrupt company auctioning
off the valuables of a fallen titan.
Last year, Nortel sold its optical networking and carrier ethernet
business to Ciena for $769 million and its wireless business to
Ericsson for $1.3 billion. Soon it will sell off its patents as well, among
them some thought to be essential 4G wireless technologies like Long
Term Evolution (LTE) and Service Architecture Evolution (SAE).
And that IP is drawing a lot of interest from the likes of Research in
Motion, Nokia, Google and Apple, none of whom wants to see it in the
hands of a rival, particularly as 4G’s commercial availability broadens.
Sources tell me all three companies are participating in the auction
and Reuters reports that final bids are due in a matter of weeks. Said
one, “whoever buys these patents is buying a hell of an advantage.”
Reached for comment, Apple and RIM declined. Google and Nokia
did not respond.
TECHCRUNCH
trends on twitter13 DIC 2010 04:16A.M.
Twitter has just released their list of top trends on Twitter for 2010.
Surprisingly, Justin Bieber did not dominate the list. Instead, the Gulf
oil spill did. The service says that 25 billion tweets were sent in total in
2010.
Below, find the lists of the top overall trends following by the top
trends for different categories:
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul
News Events:
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. Haiti Earthquake
3. Pakistan Floods
4. Koreas Conflict
5. Chilean Miners Rescue
People:
1. Justin Bieber
2. Dilma Rouseff
3. Lady Gaga
4. Julian Assange
5. Mel Gibson
Movies:
1. Inception
2. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
4. Despicable Me
5. Karate Kid
Television:
1. MTV Music Video Awards
2. Pretty Little Liars
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3. True Blood
4. Walking Dead
5. Grammy Awards
Technology:
1. Apple iPad
2. Google Android
3. Apple iOS
4. Apple iPhone
5. Call of Duty Black Ops
World Cup:
1. FIFA World Cup
2. Vuvuzela
3. Pulpo Paul
4. Dunga
5. Diego Maradona
Sports:
1. Lebron James
2. Wimbledon
3. Manchester United
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Celtics
Hashtags:
1. #rememberwhen
2. #slapyourself
3. #confessiontime (Hashtag started by Usher)
4. #thingsimiss
5. #ohjustlikeme
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Viral Video: Groupon’sAndrew Mason Doesn’t KissGoogle and Tell! [BoomTown]13 DIC 2010 03:16A.M.
It seems as though there is no one that Groupon’s Andrew Mason
won’t talk to, in the wake of the failed acquisition of his social buying
site by Google.
In a series of interviews over the last week, the Groupon CEO and Co-
founder chit-chatted about start-up’s growth, waxed poetic over its
Chicago roots and marveled on what it’s like riding a rocket ship to
the moon.
Plus, Mason is quite charming doing it, making all kinds of quips and
crazily endearing statements that reporters eat up with a big spoon.
Except that he goes all coy about the single biggest gorilla in the
room–or shall we say, Borg? That would be telling us exactly why the
search behemoth did not gobble Groupon up, despite a $6 billion
price tag.
At least Mason is funny, as you will see here on a segment last week
on the “Charlie Rose” television show.
The interview includes Mason’s explanation at the end about how not
talking about what happened with Google is like not talking about old
dates (Personally, I am a veritable blabfest about old dates, Andrew,
so call me sometime, as I have some very good stories!).
Enjoy:
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ALL THINGS DIGITAL
What’s Really Wrong WithBlackBerry (And What To DoAbout It) [Voices]13 DIC 2010 03:05A.M.
By Michael Mace, CEO, Cera Technology
Just a couple of weeks after Research in Motion turned in a good
earnings report, the death watch over the company has resumed, with
Business Week magazine running a long article that mocks co-CEO
Jim Balsillie (even picking on his duck-emblazoned tie) and saying
that RIM needs to learn how to market as well as Apple (link).
Read the rest of this post on the original site
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
What It’s Like to Participate inAnonymous’ Actions [Voices]13 DIC 2010 03:04A.M.
By Gabriella Coleman, Professor, New York University
Anonymous, who have been on a week long sprint/spree to paralyze
website sites like Mastercard and Paypal, are often described in the
news as a “group” with “members.” This is usually followed by a series
of prolonged qualifications and caveats because many characteristics
we usually associate with groups don’t seem to apply comfortably with
Anonymous: there are no leaders, anyone can seemingly join, and
participants are spread across the globe, although many of them can
be found on any number of Internet Relay Chat Channels where they
discuss strategy, plan attacks, crack jokes, and often pose critical
commentary on the unfolding events they have just engendered.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Telling a Mother’s StoryThrough Her Facebook StatusUpdates [Voices]13 DIC 2010 03:03A.M.
By Ian Shapira, Staff Writer, The Washington Post
Several weeks ago, my wife Caroline and I were stuck inside Chicago’s
O’Hare airport, waiting for a flight home, and, to burn some time, she
logged onto Facebook. She tapped my arm and pointed at her screen.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Why WikiLeaks Is Bad forScholars [Voices]13 DIC 2010 03:02A.M.
By Daniel W. Drezner, Professor of International Politics, Tufts
University
Let me share one of my recurring nightmares with you. I’m delivering
a paper on why the United States pursued a particular strategy during
an international negotiation.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Why Drudge Is a Poor Targetfor Copyright Vigilantes[Voices]13 DIC 2010 03:01A.M.
By Jeff Bercovici, Blogger, Forbes.com
There’s undeniably something wrong with the current state of the
digital media ecosystem, which lets aggregators and bloggers free-ride
profitably on the efforts of newspapers that themselves are often
losing money. But suing Matt Drudge and trying to take control of his
website, as one plaintiff did yesterday, is a funny way of going about
fixing it.
Read the rest of this post on the original site
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ALL THINGS DIGITAL
New Verizon Wireless CEODashes Into 4G Service[Voices]13 DIC 2010 03:00A.M.
By Shayndi Raice and Roger Cheng, Reporters, The Wall Street
Journal
Verizon Wireless’s new chief executive, Daniel Mead, is pulling right
into the fast lane.
Two months after he took the job Oct. 1, Verizon plunked down its
biggest bet in years by launching an expensive new fourth-generation
wireless broadband network. It promises super-fast Web surfing that
will make it easier, for example, to watch video on smartphones and
tablets.
Mr. Mead will have to cut through the noise from competitors
claiming similar capabilities and persuade customers Verizon’s is
better. He will also have to keep Verizon’s lead as the industry shifts to
relying more on data services.
Then there are the reports that the country’s largest wireless carrier,
which has built a deep and lucrative relationship with Google Inc.,
might soon get to carry Apple Inc.’s iPhone. (A spokesman declined to
comment.)
Read the rest of this post on the original site
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Shocking Bieber Upset: OilSpill Tops Twitter’s 2010Trends [NetworkEffect]13 DIC 2010 03:00A.M.
Although World Cup tweeting caused record high volume and
infrastructure demands on Twitter, the most-discussed topic on
Twitter in 2010 was actually the Gulf Oil Spill, the San Francisco-
based company said tonight. The South Africa-hosted World Cup
came in at No. 2.
(Of course, Twitter hasn’t revealed the secret formulas that helped it
aggregate, tabulate and rank these topics.)
In the Twitterverse, after the BP oil spill and soccer, the next most
popular topic of conversation in 2010 was the movie “Inception,”
followed by the Haiti Earthquake and the Vuvuzela. The iPad,
Android, Justin Bieber, Harry Potter and Pulpo Paul round out the
top 10. It’s an odd list, indeed.
The person most discussed on Twitter in 2010 was obviously he-of-
the-dedicated-servers, Mr. Bieber. (It’s somewhat shocking that world
events and tech gadgets were able to keep the teen phenom out of the
top spot overall.) Beating out her royal highness Lady Gaga, the No. 2
person on Twitter was Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rousseff
(pictured).
Here’s the full 2010 list, courtesy of Twitter, followed by 2009’s list
for comparison.
2010 Twitter Trends
Overall Top Trends
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul
News Events:
1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. Haiti Earthquake
3. Pakistan Floods
4. Koreas Conflict
5. Chilean Miners Rescue
People:
1. Justin Bieber
2. Dilma Rouseff
3. Lady Gaga
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4. Julian Assange
5. Mel Gibson
Movies:
1. Inception
2. Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows
3. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World
4. Despicable Me
5. Karate Kid
Television:
1. MTV Music Video Awards
2. Pretty Little Liars
3. True Blood
4. Walking Dead
5. Grammy Awards
Technology:
1. Apple iPad
2. Google Android
3. Apple iOS
4. Apple iPhone
5. Call of Duty Black Ops
World Cup:
1. FIFA World Cup
2. Vuvuzela
3. Pulpo Paul
4. Dunga
5. Diego Maradona
Sports:
1. Lebron James
2. Wimbledon
3. Manchester United
4. Brock Lesnar
5. Celtics
Hashtags:
1. #rememberwhen
2. #slapyourself
3. #confessiontime (Hashtag started by Usher)
4. #thingsimiss
5. #ohjustlikeme
2009 Twitter Trends
News Events
1. #iranelection
2. Swine Flu
3. Gaza
4. Iran
5. Tehran
6. #swineflu
7. AIG
8. #uksnow
9. Earth Hour
10. #inaug09
People
1. Michael Jackson
2. Susan Boyle
3. Adam Lambert
4. Kobe (Bryant)
5. Chris Brown
6. Chuck Norris
7. Joe Wilson
8. Tiger Woods
9. Christian Bale
10. A-Rod (Alex Rodriguez)
Movies
1. Harry Potter
2. New Moon
3. District 9
4. Paranormal Activity
5. Star Trek
6. True Blood
7. Transformers 2
8. Watchmen
9. Slumdog Millionaire
10. G.I. Joe
TV Shows
1. American Idol
2. Glee
3. Teen Choice Awards
4. SNL (Saturday Night Live)
5. Dollhouse
6. Grey’s Anatomy
7. VMAS (Video Music Awards)
8. #bsg (Battlestar Galatica)
9. BET Awards
10. Lost
Sports (Teams, Events, Leagues)
1. Super Bowl
2. Lakers
3. Wimbledon
4. Cavs (Cleveland Cavaliers)
5. Superbowl
6. Chelsea
7. NFL
8. UFC 100
9. Yankees
10. Liverpool
Technology
1. Google Wave
2. Snow Leopard
3. Tweetdeck
4. Windows 7
5. CES
6. Palm Pre
7. Google Latitude
8. #E3
9. #amazonfail
10. Macworld
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Hash Tags
1. #musicmonday
2. #iranelection
3. #sxsw
4. #swineflu
5. #nevertrust
6. #mm
7. #rememberwhen
8. #3drunkwords
9. #unacceptable
10. #iwish
TECHCRUNCH
mike-butcher13 DIC 2010 02:39A.M.
Today TechCrunch Europe is coming to Moscow, Russia, for our first
ever TechCrunch Moscow event (to be held in English).
The Live video stream is here.
TechCrunch Moscow is at the first Russian private tech incubator, the
Digital October Center, located in a historical manufacturing building
Krasny Oktyabr (or “Red October” / Красный Октябрь in Russian).
The event is sold out but there’ll be full day packed with speeches by
the leaders of the industry and a chance to preview promising Russian
tech startups.
Co-organised by TechCrunch Europe together with Kite Ventures and
Telemarker, our partners have also put together a dedicated event
web site and a dedicated Twitter feed. We’ll be using the Twitter
hashtag #TCMoscow.
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
What Privacy Problem? WebAd Targeter Media6DegreesRaises $17 Million[MediaMemo]13 DIC 2010 12:00A.M.
One way to gauge what’s really going on with privacy and Web
advertising: Follow the money. If investors really think privacy
problems are going to weigh the industry down, it’s going to be a lot
harder to get checks out of them.
So use that context to think about this news: Media6Degrees, a
behavioral advertising technology startup, has raised a $17 million
funding round led by Menlo Ventures.
Earlier investors U.S. Venture Partners and Venrock, who had helped
the 2-year-old company raise another $12 million before the new B
round, are re-upping.
The money is supposed targeted for general expansion, not M&A, says
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CEO Tom Phillips, who joined the company in 2009 after a 3-year
stint at Google.
Phillips says his company will end up booking $20 million in revenue
in 2010. And he says that by Q4 it had ramped up to a $30 million
annual run rate — that is, it will do about $7.5 million in the last 3
months of the year.
Media6 describes what it does as “Social Targeting”, which makes it
sound as if it’s trying to find links between your various social
networks. But the company’s work has nothing to do with your
Facebook or Twitter profiles. While it doesn’t like the term
“behavioral targeting,” that’s essentially what it’s doing.
In a nutshell, Media6 Web marketers track the surfing behavior of
their existing customers, then trying to find similar behavior patterns
— a matching “social signature” — for other surfers, so it can show
them ads.
Depending on your perspective, that’s either creepy, or a common-
sense strategy to help advertisers spend their money more efficiently.
If it does weird you out, you can go ahead and opt out. But Phillips
and his company would like you to know that the company never
tracks individuals – only their anonymized browsers.
Still don’t want any part of this stuff? In theory, companies like
Media6 will be in trouble if lots of surfers really do start opting out of
data collection. They can do that by telling individual Web sites and
ad networks not to track them — or, more ominously, by using
browsers with “do not track” filters built into them.
But we’re a very long way from that kind of change. And the startup’s
investors seem to be betting that it’s never going to come.
TECHCRUNCH
ch212 DIC 2010 07:04P.M.
Every piece of technology has both good and bad attributes. Nothing
is perfect. Not even the iPhone. (Well, at least not until that AT&T
exclusivity ends.) But until three days ago, I had never used a product
with attributes that are both insanely awesome and shockingly awful
at the same time. Welcome into the world, Cr-48.
Now, Google has made it very clear that they don’t intend to release
this product as it stands. As such, they’ve more or less asked those
they’ve sent it to not to review it as a completed product. But it’s
pretty much impossible to avoid talking about the hardware here
because for most of us, it is the first and only gateway we’ve had into
Chrome OS. Plus, there’s a lot of interest in this particular device
among our readers, so I’m going to talk about it.
Simply put: the hardware is pretty bad. Actually, maybe not so much
bad, as annoying as all hell. But the only reason it’s so annoying is
because Chrome OS, even in its very early, fairly rough stage, is that
good. Well, potentially that good.
While Jason wrote up his initial thoughts after a day with the device,
I’ve been using it as my primary machine for just about three days
now. Also, I likely have a different perspective as I’m currently
traveling — something which a Chrome notebook should be perfect
for.
The Design
Initially, when I took it out of the box, I sort of wanted to laugh at the
Cr-48. Jason compared its look to that of one of the old 12-inch
PowerBook G4s. But actually, I think it’s closer to a combination of an
old 12-inch iBook and one of the previous generation MacBooks — the
one that came in black. In fact, when you open it up and start typing
on it, it feels very similar to that MacBook.
Of course, that MacBook is also a few years old already. And when
compared to the new MacBook Air, this thing looks like a bloated dog.
One covered in some kind of rubber blanket. The fact that it has a
VGA port, an ugly side grill for the fan, and yet only one USB port,
doesn’t help.
But again, this is a prototype device. So we have to cut Google some
slack here. As far as I know, they haven’t said which of their
manufacturing partners made this thing, but let’s hope it was the
cheapest device possible for them to produce and that’s why it exists
as it does.
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I really do hope that’s the case.
The Setup
Okay, so I took it out of the box and laughed. But then I opened the
lid. Immediately, the thing booted up. No need to press the power
button. 15 seconds later, it was walking me through a very easy-to-
understand tutorial on how to use Chrome OS. After a few minutes
reading it, I was asked to take a picture of myself (for my profile
picture) with the built-in camera (above the screen), then I was all
ready to go. That’s it.
I signed in with my Google account, and the browser launched. My
bookmarks, extensions, and web apps were all automatically synced. I
was ready to go pretty much instantly.
Now I was impressed. Very impressed. This is absolutely the future of
computer set-ups.
The Trackpad
But the love affair quickly turned sour when I started using the Cr-48
trackpad. Jason called it a “turd”, but I think that’s being too kind. It’s
maybe the worst excuse for a piece of technology that anyone has
created in the past five years. It’s so much worse than any other
trackpad I’ve ever used in recent memory, it’s almost unbelievable.
Those bug reports from a few weeks ago make sense now.
And it also makes sense why Google isn’t selling the Cr-48 at all,
despite the high demand. If they sold this product with this trackpad,
Google may not be allowed to ever attempt to make another branded
product ever again. If you think I’m exaggerating, use one.
Everytime I point at something and click down, the cursor moves
below or above where I had originally pointed. I’ve now taught myself
to aim slightly higher or lower than where I want to click. But I have
to guess which it will be. It’s a crapshoot.
Trying to double click with two fingers is ever worse. If you’re used to
casually doing it with ease on a MacBook, this will be your hell. To get
it to work, you essentially have to lift two fingers about a foot in the
air, then bring them down in a perfectly straight line at a rapid speed
while making sure that they both hit the pad at the exact same time.
Okay, I may be exaggerating a bit there, but it’s really bad.
Two finger scrolling? It’s perfect if you like randomly jumping to
various parts of webpages for no reason.
Okay, I’ve made my point. This trackpad is a disgrace. It’s an
abomination. I don’t know if it’s hardware or software or both (likely),
but it’s just terrible. I’m tempted to do the unthinkable: buy a mouse.
The Keyboard
Moving on. So, the trackpad quickly soured my Chrome OS
experience. But after I figured out little tricks to
better maneuver (mainly using the excellent keyboard and its
shortcuts), I was back on track. After a day, I was frustrated. But after
two days, I was really, really liking Chrome OS. And even certain
things about the Cr-48 specifically.
For example, every computer should absolutely have a search button
in place of caps lock. I can’t remember the last time I’ve used caps
lock. And yet, there it is, right there in a vital place on the keyboard.
On the Cr-48, I think the search button rivals the spacebar for my
most-often-hit key. You click it an it launches a new tab reach to
search away in the omnibox. It’s fantastic.
Also awesome are the window-switching and full screen mode buttons
on the Cr-48. OS X, with Spaces, essentially allows you to do this type
of window-switching, but I’d argue that it’s better on Chrome OS
because everything is simplified. If you want to open a new window
(as opposed to a new tab), it will reside on another screen. That said,
it is a little tricky to navigate if you have more than two windows open
— hitting the button will cycle through them in order.
Full screen mode has existed on Chrome for some time, but the
keyboard shortcut makes it more accessible than ever before. And on
smaller screens (like the 12-inch on on the Cr-48), it’s very nice.
The Speed
Speed is the other major weakness of the Cr-48. It’s running an Intel
Atom chip which is apparently clocked at 1.66 GHz. That may seem
like it would be fast enough to run a web browser, but it’s not. Well,
not if you’re doing anything with Flash turned on.
When we initially reported on the Flash issues that Cr-48 users were
having, many of our favorite commenters (who may or may not make
a living developing for Flash) were quick with the typical “bias!”
nonsense. Of course, a few hours later, none other than Adobe
themselves admitted the performance of Flash on the Cr-48 was
unacceptable, and said they were working on it.
Good, because beyond watching a small YouTube clip with no other
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tabs open, Flash is basically unusable on the Cr-48. And that’s
annoying because Google has decided to bake Flash into not only
Chrome, but Chrome OS as well. So extensions like Flash Block are
your friend here — or go to about:plugins and disable Flash directly
until Adobe gets the mess sorted out.
But even beyond Flash, the Cr-48 just feels very slow when compared
to any other modern computer. Typing, for example, often lags on
sites such as WordPress (which I’m using right now). And opening
new tabs and windows takes a few seconds longer than it would on a
normal machine.
All of this is would seem to be because Google included only 2 GB of
RAM in the Cr-48. But I have a MacBook Air with only 2 GB of RAM
and it flies. Google really needs to work with their OEM partners to
get this lag sorted out before these Chrome notebooks start shipping.
And I have to believe they will.
Beyond Prototype
In fact, in many ways, the Cr-48 reminds me a lot of the G1, the first
Android phone Google shipped (with HTC) a couple years ago. They
both were clearly step one of a platform that would quickly evolve.
And the Cr-48 even sort of feels like the G1 to the touch.
I still have a G1. Looking at it now compared to the newer Android
phones is pretty humorous. The platform has clearly come a long way.
And that gives me a lot of hope for Chrome notebooks as well.
As it stands now, two things about this the Cr-48 currently standout:
the boot-up time and the battery life. Both are excellent.
The Cr-48 goes from being off to the log-in screen in 15 seconds.
That’s slightly above Google’s stated 10 second mark, but it’s still very,
very good. When you log-in, it takes another 15 seconds or so to load
all your profile information and Chrome preferences from the web. So
you’re looking at a total time from zero to working in 30 seconds.
For comparison, the new MacBook Air, with its new solid state drives,
goes from zero to working in about 18 seconds. But that’s without
booting up Chrome (or your web browser of choice on OS X) and
waiting for it to load a page. That adds another 5 seconds or so. So
they’re very close in terms of startup speed between the two systems.
And again, that’s on Google’s prototype machine.
But as I indicated above, the Air runs circles around the Cr-48 in just
about everything else when it comes to performance.
The one area where the Cr-48 does seem to have the MacBook Air
beat is battery life. Google claims 8 hours, but I think it actually may
be more. Because I’m in Europe, I turned off the cellular antenna
(since Verizon connectivity obviously won’t work here) and I’m seeing
closer to 10 hours of battery life on a full charge when connected to
WiFi. The MacBook Air has fantastic battery life as well, but Cr-48 is
definitely better.
And again, just imagine what that will mean when someone actually
creates a Chrome notebook that they intend to sell. The Cr-48 is a
little bit bulky, but if they trim it down to around Air size, I bet they
could still get at least a solid 7 or more hours out of the system. This
seems to be one huge benefit of only running a browser.
Chrome OS
And let’s finally talk about that browser. Quite a few people were
shocked when Chrome OS was revealed to be little more than Chrome
— and that’s it. But that simplicity is the OS’s strength. It removes
several layers of junk that most people these days never use on a
computer.
I know that personally, roughly 95 percent of what I do on a computer
these days is in the web browser. Of the other 5 percent, 4 percent of it
could probably be done in the browser too (light image editing, taking
notes, etc). The other one percent is more difficult but those are
mainly things (iTunes media management, Photoshop) that I only
need to do some of the time and can use a desktop machine for.
That’s the thing: Chrome OS isn’t going to fully replace anyone’s
desktop anytime soon. But it could become a very viable on-the-go
computing solution.
Even in its current beta state, Chrome OS has definitely been a
perfectly adequate travel companion these past three days (Cr-48
trackpad aside). And it’s only going to get better. And if Chrome’s (the
browser) evolution is any indication, it’s going to get better very
quickly.
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Panels
As Jason hit on quite a bit in his post, one of the most interesting
things about Chrome OS will be how developers support it. Right now,
most Chrome Web Store apps are little more than mildly glorified
extensions, or just links to web apps already in existence. Meanwhile,
one of the coolest features of Chrome OS, panels, are barely used.
Developers can and should change this quickly.
Prettification
Another thing that bugs me about the OS currently is that Google
seems determined to maintain some of Windows awful aesthetics.
More directly: fonts look like shit.
Chrome on Mac easily looks much better than Chrome OS does for
this very reason. Hopefully Google will add some polish here as
Chrome OS pushes forward.
Also, the look and feel of the top toolbar (the area to the right of the
tabs) is pretty poor. Google could and should do a much better job
here.
And while we’re on the subject, Chrome’s already dicey themes all
look even worse with Chrome OS. Google should just stick to some
simple color options and leave out all the BS. No, I don’t want my
Chrome OS to look like an ice cream cake any more than I wanted
Windows to look like a hot dog stand. But that, of course, is just my
opinion.
Connectivity
The biggest factor holding up Chrome OS is mostly out of Google’s
control: WiFi infrastructure. While WiFi is fairly widespread, it’s far
from everywhere. And Chrome OS is worthless without connectivity. I
mean, it’s completely and utterly useless.
That’s exactly why Google teamed up with Verizon to offer back-up 3G
connectivity. But beyond the paltry 100 MB they give you for free each
month, that type of connection can get expensive quickly just to be
able to simply use your computer.
Further, many deals will have to be worked out in various different
countries for that level of connectivity. That’s why my Cr-48 isn’t fully
travel-ready here in Europe, for example (there is no Verizon here).
So what happens when you boot up your Chrome notebook without a
connection? Well, you get an error — a very confusing one. This has
happened to me a few times in the past few days. I boot up the
computer, enter my password, and it says there’s a problem with my
password. Only that’s not true. It’s just that I’m not connected to the
network, so it can’t verify my password (Google really needs to
change the wording there).
The problem here is that if you’re on a network with a password, you
have to log-in to Chrome OS as a guest, connect to the network and
entire the password, then log out and log back in to your Google
account. A pain. And something that a lot of users are going to
experience again and again.
The Connected Computer
So while Google CEO Eric Schmidt says the world is now ready for
Chrome OS, I think we’re still at least a year — and maybe a few years
— away from this type of system being viable for most average
consumers. But I think it’s fantastic that Google is willing to go out on
a limb now to help the transition along.
Of course, the payoff for them looks be huge if they lead this new era
of computing. And the risk is fairly minimal. Even if Chrome OS takes
a while to take off, Google has more than enough capital to keep the
project going for a long time — just like they did with Android at first.
In many ways, smartphones have and will continue to help us with
this transition. The assumption of always having a connection to the
web is now built into most of our daily lives. What good is a
smartphone when you’re not connected? Maybe just for playing some
games. Computers will eventually be the same way. Until games are
fully online as well — something which the Chrome Web Store is
trying to make happen.
I don’t think anyone disagrees that computers that are always
connected to the Internet are the future, it’s just that Google is taking
it to the extreme right now with these machines. It’s Internet or
nothing. It’s bold.
Price
While Google hasn’t yet stated how much they (and their OEM
partners) intend to sell Chrome notebooks for, that price is going to be
crucial. It obviously needs to be low. Very low.
If Google wants these to compete with Windows machines, sub-$500
should do the trick. And if they can bring them in with better
hardware than the Cr-48 for something like $300, I think they’re
going to sell a ton of them next by next holiday season.
And Google keeps reiterating that they intend Chrome OS to work on
other platforms as well. You can imagine desktop machines running
Chrome OS might be perfect for schools and libraries. And Google
could of course bundle Google Apps with them. Hell, I could even see
them subsidizing Chrome notebook costs to get them available to all
students in certain school districts that commit to Google Apps.
Actually, a big competitor for the Chrome notebooks may end up
being the new MacBook Airs. Both are now trying to redefine just
what exactly portable computing is. There’s no denying that the Air is
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a much, much sexier device both in look and feel than the Cr-48. But
it’s also likely to be several hundred dollars — and maybe even a
thousand dollars more expensive in some cases.
Again, that’s why Google needs to nail the price points and nail the
execution with their OEM partners on these. I have some doubts as to
whether that will happen or not initially, but even a mediocre Chrome
notebook should put quite a bit of pressure on low-end Windows
machines, at the very least. As I wrote a year ago, it would be the
Microsoft squeeze.
Back Offline
To finish up this post, I actually moved back from the Cr-48 to my
MacBook Air. One reason is that the typing lag was driving me insane.
The other is that image insertion — and image management, is still
pretty tricky with Chrome OS. So I’m back to a machine with more
than just a browser.
This is actually the first time I’ve extensively used this machine in
three days. It’s a little weird seeing the browser shrunk into a window.
And I actually like it taking up the full screen more (that’s easy
enough to do on a Mac or PC with Chrome, the browser). In a slightly
weird twist, I actually don’t like seeing all the, yes, chrome. What’s the
point?
Of course, I do cherish the speed of this Air versus the Cr-48. Oh and
the trackpad. My god the trackpad. It actually works! It’s a thing of
beauty that I will never take for granted again.
So there you go, I’m pretty divided right now on Google’s first take at
the Chrome notebook. It’s both brilliant and bewildering. It’s both the
future and a nightmare. But it’s definitely not boring, which is more
than you can say for a lot of “new” technology these days. Watching it
mature will be fun. But first the hardware needs to grow up.
If I could buy the Cr-48 right now, would I? No. But I’d download
Chrome OS and install it on some cheap netbook. Or maybe even this
Macbook Air…
CrunchBase Information
Google Chrome OS
Information provided by CrunchBase
ALL THINGS DIGITAL
Gawker Hacked. If You’ve Lefta Comment on a Nick DentonSite, Change Your PasswordASAP. [MediaMemo]12 DIC 2010 03:47P.M.
Have you left a comment on one of Gawker Media’s sites? If so, you
should change your password there, and on any other sites where
you’ve used the same login/password combination, as soon as
possible. Gawker says its “user databases appear to have been
compromised” by hackers. More background from Mediaite.
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GIGAOMTECH
meters12 DIC 2010 03:00P.M.
Ed.: This is the second of a two-part post. The first post ran on
Saturday.
In yesterday’s post, I outlined arguments from a much lengthier
analysis (PDF) regarding recent carrier announcements concerning
tiered pricing for broadband services. Not only is such pay-per-use a
clear trend, but arguably the natural outcome of rational consumer
decision-making, as light users actively choose not to subsidize heavy
ones by paying for more capital-intensive resources than they use.
However, if pricing plans are no longer “unlimited,” but increasingly
granular and usage-sensitive, one can predict massive disruptions in
the current ecosystem and reversal of some trends of the last few
years. However, as with all such shifts, this will create new
opportunities and drive new technology breakthroughs. Here are
some thoughts on such a future:
• Fewer Ambient Applications. There will be less live
streaming video from coffee pots. In other words, less passive
push, more active pull.
• Truth in Labeling. Foods and beverages need to disclose
calories from protein, fat, and carbohydrates. Apps and content
may need to disclose total data transferred or peak data rates.
Drugs need to disclose potential side effects (may cause
congestive heart failure), apps and content may need to do the
same (may cause congestive network failure).
• Certifications and Guarantees. It’s easy to blame a network
provider for high charges, but you don’t blame the electric
company when your kids leave the lights on or the water
company because a broken faucet ran up your bill. Similar to
Energy Star labeling for appliances, programs may be developed
to certify “bandwidth-efficient” endpoints. Or, guarantees: “This
app will never transfer more than 50 MB per month or double
your money back.”
• Real-time and Projected Monitoring and Billing. Taxis
provide visibility into the amount owed in real-time. You have
electricity, gas, and water meters at your house. Providing
ubiquitous access to your current data consumption, rated to
provide visibility into your projected bill, is next. You may be
calling from the airport to tell the kids to turn down the
resolution on their web video.
• Price Caps. The EU has already been active in capping
roaming fees and monthly bandwidth charges.
• Network Enhancements and Trade-Offs. The same way
that increased gas prices drive fuel efficiency, usage-sensitive
pricing will drive enhancements in compression algorithms, less
chatty protocols, and less predictive caching. Drivers pay
thousands more for hybrids to save on gas, similarly, it may be
worth spending processing resources to save on network
resources.
• Application Design Changes. Rather than dumping a
voluminous amount of data, expect more, well, more buttons,
such as at the top of this article, requiring continuous positive
acknowledgement. Higher interactivity demands lower latency,
therefore greater application dispersion.
• Increased Caching and Premises Appliance Sharing. No
matter how many times my kids stream the same movie, our
players fetch all of the content anew. Expect more caching,
subject to laws and DRM. And, expect players from various
manufacturers to query each other.
• Congestion Pricing. A number of cities have instituted
dynamic congestion-based pricing for tolls and roads, and it has
been proposed to do the same for the Internet. Simplified
congestion pricing might mean free nights and weekends. They
knew to wait until after 9:00 p.m. to call Aunt Martha, and may
learn to have an immersive multi-screen 3-D, high-definition
video call with her after 9:00 p.m. as well.
• Security. Letting your neighbor tap into your wireless access
point may not seem like such a good idea anymore. Expect more
users to turn security on, and more access point vendors to focus
on simplicity and usability of security administration.
• Peer-to-peer. If letting your neighbor uncontrollably increase
your monthly data bill is unwise, perhaps neither is letting
everyone on the planet using your peer-to-peer client do the
same. Some telcos are implementing edge optimization for
content delivery, using peer-to-peer in the set-top box. Usage-
sensitive plans will drive a need to differentiate traffic which a
user generates vs. traffic that the provider generates.
• Intelligent, Policy-Based Optimization. Better to cache
that movie now or download it tonight, when the forecast is for a
twenty percent chance of lower data transfer rates? A predictive
optimizer that believes rates will drop but knows you won’t stay
awake long enough to watch the movie anyway may make the
decision for you.
• End-to-End Open Interoperability and Integration.
Some TVs can talk to media players via “HDMI Consumer
Electronics Control,” others can’t. Expect device manufacturers
to increasingly support interoperable control so that a streaming
media player doesn’t rack up charges when no one is watching.
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• Conservation Culture. People have learned to turn their
thermostats down in the winter, and to wait for sales on Black
Friday and Cyber Monday. Lack of concern for usage under flat-
rate plans is sometimes referred to as “moral hazard,” but I
would just describe it as “rational indifference to consumption
at zero marginal cost.” Reduced consumption is a well-known
effect of metered pricing.
• Cost-Based Adaptivity. Technologies such as Scalable Video
Coding degrade gracefully to smaller screens and lower frame
rates and quality due to network congestion. Future
technologies may do the same based on real-time network data
pricing.
• Return to Ownership. Recent trends have favored on-
demand rental over ownership. Shifting breakeven points may
cause these trends to moderate or even reverse. Don’t toss that
DVD shelving unit yet. If you can rent a house with an option to
buy, perhaps similar models will emerge where streaming a
movie will entitle you to a discount on purchasing it on physical
media.
• Shifting Business Models and Ecosystems. People who
drive to the video store for a DVD (as some still do) expect to
pay for the data transport costs (e.g., fuel, car wear and tear).
People who rent by mail expect that the cost of delivery and
return postage is borne by the video service. Expect a variety of
customer-pays, provider-pays (i.e., bundled pricing), and
advertiser or other third-party supported models to vie to
become accepted industry practice, although in any event, the
consumer ultimately pays with either eyeballs or hard dollars.
Creative partnerships between content providers and network
service providers will also materialize. “With connection
charges, this movie will cost $1.57 to view. This offer expires in
five minutes and prices are not guaranteed until you press
‘Watch Now.’”
The counter-argument to this whole chain of thought is that the cost
per bit (stored or transferred) is approaching zero. That sounds
compelling, but the inverse of that argument is that the amount of
bandwidth per user is approaching infinity, so the real question is
which trend outweighs the other. The answer can be found in the fact
that carriers’ annual capital expenditures are well north of a hundred
billion dollars globally on network infrastructure and they’d like to see
a return on that investment.
Many industries have providers offering pay-per-use and/or flat-rate
plans. Other industries seem to gravitate to unlimited pricing, and
then swing back to usage-based models. The evolution of pricing
models for fixed and mobile bandwidth will offer challenges to some
businesses, but opportunities for others to differentiate themselves
with greater transparency or by developing new features and products
that implement some of the ideas above.
Joe Weinman leads Communications, Media, and Entertainment
Industry Solutions for Hewlett-Packard. The views expressed herein
are his own.
Image courtesy Flickr user mugley.
Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):
• Report: The Connected TV Marketplace
• App Developers: Are You Ready for HTML5 and Metered Data?
• Mobile Operators’ Strategies for Connected Devices
TECHCRUNCH
Electrons revolve around thebrain. Concept of idea.12 DIC 2010 02:54P.M.
Living in Silicon Valley, one gets used to meeting people who are
optimistic and who talk about changing the world. But as I lamented
in this piece about the Valley’s obsession with Facebook and Twitter
apps, most of its entrepreneurs either think too small or are focused
on the wrong things. So, even though I am enthusiastic about its
ability to take risks and innovate, I’ve been skeptical about whether
Silicon Valley can really think big enough to solve global problems.
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That was until I visited Singularity University, located on NASA’s
Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, this week.
To say that I was blown away with what I learned and saw in just a few
hours would be an understatement. I left Singularity’s campus with
the same excitement that I used to feel as a child about how
engineering and science will, one day, save the world. The experience
recalled childhood fantasies of technologies that connect the human
brain to a central computer to share knowledge; bionic organs that
give people superhuman strength; and nano-organisms that monitor
and repair the body and cure disease. And I was reminded of my
childhood fears of cyborgs becoming smarter than humans and taking
over the world. All the great stuff from sci-fi movies.
Singularity University was founded by futurist Ray Kurzweil and X
Prize founder Peter Diamandis, in 2009. It has a who’s who of the
scientific community on its board and notable backers like Google.
The name of the university comes from a Ray Kurzweil book, The
Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology. In 2005,
Kurzweil postulated that technology is hurtling humanity toward the
next great evolutionary leap. By 2029, according to Kurzweil,
computers will achieve human intelligence, and by 2045 we’ll be able
to upload our consciousness into what, today, is called the cloud. So
even if our bodies don’t live forever, our minds will.
No, the school doesn’t teach science fiction. It aims to solve the grand
challenges that humanity faces—such as poverty, famine, disease,
global warming, and dwindling energy supplies—by teaching select
groups of business executives, technologists, and government leaders
the advances that are occurring in “exponential technologies”. It
challenges its students to think about radical new innovations that
will affect the lives of a billion people within 10 years. “Exponential
technologies” are those technologies that don’t grow gradually, but at
light speeds—in fields like robotics, artificial intelligence (AI),
computational neuroscience, and nanotech.
The university runs a 10-week graduate studies program and shorter
executive programs. Classes are taught by the foremost experts in
each field—like Dan Barry, three-time NASA astronaut; Vint Cerf,
internet pioneer and Google executive; Daniel M. Kammen, UC
Berkerley energy resources professor and Nobel Peace Prize winner;
and Daniel Kraft, Stanford professor of stem-cell biology. Students
learn about disruptive innovations and their implications and
brainstorm on the sequences in which the next technology revolutions
will happen.
During my visit to Singularity University, I attended Dan Barry’s class
on robotics and AI, Daniel Kraft’s lecture on advances in stem-cell
biology and genome testing, and a demonstration of a new device
being developed by Berkeley Bionics.
I don’t know why, but I had long believed that AI was a legacy of the
70s and was a failed technology. I was surprised to learn that AI
techniques are actually becoming commonplace today: in cyber-
warfare, in Google’s new car, and even in new generations of toys. And
a genome test—which would have cost over a billion dollars two
decades ago—will soon cost less than $100. Advances in genome
testing, it is postulated, may make it possible to create personalized
drug formulations. In other words, rather than standard medicines
that are formulated for everyone, it may be possible to create personal
prescriptions based on a person’s DNA. Medicines that can’t be
brought to market because they cause an adverse reaction in a tiny
proportion of the population can be prescribed to those who benefit. I
was also delighted to learn how Berkeley Bionics will soon make it
possible for people who are paralyzed and confined to wheelchairs to
start walking again. I saw one person who already is.
The university is hardly two years old, and I didn’t expect it to have
enjoyed any successes. But its executive director, Salim Ismail, says
that the school has already inspired many. It had four team projects
start companies last summer, and 15 this summer. These startups
include Acasa, which constructs houses through 3D printing;
www.getaround.com, which provides peer-to-peer car sharing; and
one that is looking to use beamed power to launch spacecraft. One
student even returned to Israel and caused the country to change its
energy policy to focus more on solar rather than nuclear sources (and
as a result, solar-energy use is going exponential).
So there is lots of hope for Silicon Valley and the world. But we need
to get our top technologists, academics, and political leaders to spend
a few days at Singularity University so that they start thinking big
again. We also need to get American children excited again about
studying engineering and science. And we need to reignite the passion
in graduates of engineering programs at schools like Duke, Berkeley,
and Stanford. Too often, they choose to become management
consultants and investment bankers.
Editor’s note: Guest writer Vivek Wadhwa is an entrepreneur
turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior
Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Director of Research
at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization
at Duke University. You can follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa
and find his research at www.wadhwa.com.
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ALL THINGS DIGITAL
No Lumps of Coal for Retailersas Shopping Soars to $22Billion Online [eMoney]12 DIC 2010 02:36P.M.
With five to eight days remaining for consumers to take advantage of
free shipping offers before Christmas, the online shopping season still
has a lot of legs left.
In the first 40 days of the holiday shopping season, comScore
estimates that more than $21.95 billion has been spent online,
increasing 12 percent vs. last year.
The most recent week saw a spike in sales with $5.15 billion in
spending, an increase of 11 percent over last year, as two days each
pushed passed $900 million.
But still, it’s likely that the biggest shopping day online has yet to
occur. The industry would like you to believe that its “Cyber Monday,”
the Monday following Thanksgiving, is the busiest, and while
spending hit an all-time record of $1.03 billion on that day this year,
procrastinators typically spend more as we get closer to Christmas.
This Monday, Dec. 13, has been coined “Green Monday,” presumably
after the color of money. EBay came up with the term after that day in
2007 kicked off one of the busiest shopping weeks online.
This year seems particularly robust, as shoppers become even more
comfortable seeking discounts online. ComScore chairman Gian
Fulgoni, surmised: “This coming week, beginning with Green
Monday, should see some of the heaviest online shopping activity of
the season and we expect at least one more day to surpass the billion
dollar spending threshold.”
But the holiday shopping season will naturally slow down starting on
Friday, Dec. 17, as free delivery offers expire and it becomes more
difficult to get guaranteed delivery by Christmas Eve. Until then, the
post office can assume its sleighs will be packed full of cardboard
boxes.
Amazon.com is offering free shipping on purchases of $25 or more
until Friday, unless you have an Amazon prime subscription. Wal-
Mart is offering free shipping–with no minimum–on 60,000 items
until Dec. 20. And, Dec. 17 has been coined Free Shipping Day with
lots of merchants trying to get shoppers to do last-minute spending
online without the penalty of shipping costs.
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