Billy Tompson: May 2011

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Steve Ballmer says 'Windows 8 in 2012'; Microsoft says not. Who's right?

When the PR slaps down the chief executive, something remarkable is going on in the Windows saga. All is not what it might seem, however

On Monday, Steve Ballmer - Microsoft's chief executive - spoke in Tokyo about what the company has for people (both users and investors) to look forward to. In the speech, for which the transcript is (for now, still) available on Microsoft's website, he looked forward to new forms of interaction with systems ("Today on a PC, it's file open, blah, blah, blah, respond, reply, forward. I can't just say to my device, 'get me ready for my trip to Tokyo'"), and then noted how quickly the ARM architecture had shifted into the mainstream ("Just think back three or four years ago and how quickly performance and size, and miniaturization and the move to ARM processors has happened").

And then he looked forward a little bit:

We're obviously hard at work on the next version of Windows. Windows 7 PCs will sell over 350 million units this year. We've done a lot in Windows 7 to improve customer satisfaction. We have a brand new user interface. We've added touch, and ink, and speech. And yet, as we look forward to the next generation of Windows systems, which will come out next year, there's a whole lot more coming. As we progress through the year, you ought to expect to hear a lot about Windows 8. Windows 8 slates, tablets, PCs, a variety of different form factors.

Wow! So that's Windows 8, announced by the chief executive as coming out next year - just what all the rumour sites have been saying for an age, and what Microsoft and Ballmer themselves hinted at during CES in January.

Except... on Wednesday, in a move that fits the literal description of "extraordinary", Microsoft's PR put out a statement saying that the chief executive made a "misstatement".

As the LA Times reports, an email from a Microsoft spokeswoman said:

It appears there was a misstatement. We are eagerly awaiting the next generation of Windows 7 hardware that will be available in the coming fiscal year. To date, we have yet to formally announce any timing or naming for the next version of Windows.

To which the blogosphere's reaction was: what?? Is it really possible that Microsoft's PR would slap down its chief executive?

Well, if you take it on face value, yes. But that's not what this is about. Instead, it's all about what spin doctors call "deniability". In other words: have some way to say that a leak isn't true.

What matters at the moment to Microsoft is driving adoption of Windows 7. The figures show that the ten-year-old Windows XP is still widely used, even despite the comparatively quick takeup of Windows 7 (which is certainly faster than with Vista, as we've shown).

But if corporate buyers know that Windows 8 is just around the corner, they will hold off on purchasing systems, because they'll want to see what the requirements of Windows 8 are, and how they should be planning their future upgrades.

And right now the last thing that Microsoft wants is for people to hold off buying PCs. It's business buyers who are keeping the PC market anything like afloat; as Microsoft's Bill Koefoed, its general manager for investor relations, said discussing its last quarterly results:

Now let me turn to the PC market. There are 3 trends we are observing. First, business PC growth was 9% this quarter. The business PC refresh cycle continues and is still in the early stages. Second, emerging markets continues to play a larger role in total PC shipment volume and now represent nearly half of all worldwide PC shipments.
Finally, the consumer PC market declined 8% as there are several dynamics at work, including a 40% decline in netbooks, broader consumer macroeconomics, increased competition for consumer spending and the strength of Windows 7 consumer PCs in the prior year. In total, we estimate the PC market declined 1% to 3% in the third quarter.

If Ballmer's words in Tokyo make even a few businesses put off buying PCs because they're interested to see what Windows 8 is like, things could turn ugly. (A reminder: Windows licensing generates slightly more than half of Microsoft's profits.) Depressing business sales is not what chief executives are meant to do.

(It's with "misstatements" like this in mind that the owner of one US hedge fund, Daivd Einhorn, called for Ballmer's head, saying the company had "floundered" under his 11-year leadership. So far though there's no sign of a shareholder or board revolt.)

So what's with the PR slapping down the chief executive? It's simple: it's a billboard so that Microsoft's sales teams can point to it and say, with a straight face, "Next version? No, we haven't announced any timing or naming for the next version of Windows. Look, it says so here. Anyway, about this Windows 7 upgrade contract..."

But the message you should take away? Windows 8 (or whatever it will be called) is coming next year. Steve Ballmer's the chief executive. And he knows what's going on.

Charles Arthur

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/may/26/windows-8-ballmer-microsoft-denial

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How to Fold a Cloth Diaper

Before you need to change a diaper, you must learn how to fold one correctly. In this article, you'll learn how to fold a cloth diaper prior to its use, including a variety of different types of cloth diaper folds.

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Fold-a-Cloth-Diaper

SANDISK SALESFORCE COM SAIC ROCKWELL AUTOMATION RF MICRO DEVICES

Ghana's Email Scammers Work Hard, Pray Harder

Here's a fascinating look at the world of Sakawa, a unique blend of e-mail fraud and African religious tradition that has become a cultural force in Ghana. The young and unemployed people who use scavenged computers and Juju priests for their scams also drive a thriving music and movie scene centered on the lives of e-mail conmen. The video above is 20-minutes long, so if you're working, wait until later.

Ghana's Email Scammers Work Hard, Pray Harder originally appeared on Switched on Fri, 08 Apr 2011 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.switched.com/2011/04/08/ghana-email-scammers-sakawa/

RADISYS RACKABLE SYSTEMS QUEST SOFTWARE QUANTUM QLOGIC

Qualcomm dual-core Honeycomb tablet outed [Video]

Qualcomm‘s own Uplinq conference may be starting later today in�San Diego, but that hasn’t stopped the chip company from turning up at Computex with some hardware to play with. Quanta had prepared a 10-inch tablet running on Qualcomm’s latest�dual-core Snapdragon, NetbookNews reports, running Android 3.0. So far the bulk of the Honeycomb tablets we’ve seen [...]

Source: http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/k8PzotV48pY/

NINTENDO NOKIA NVIDIA ORACLE POWERCHIP SEMICONDUCTOR

Paid Content Host SubHub Pivots To Be A Drupal 'App Store'

SubHub, whose web hosting and content management service is aimed at small publishers who want to charge for their content, is making a “complete change” to its business model.

Source: http://feeds.paidcontent.org/~r/pcorg/~3/2LpsQ7lscPk/

NANYA TECHNOLOGY NII HOLDINGS NIKON NINTENDO NOKIA

?Pads?

Source: http://dailyexhaust.com/2011/05/pads.html

DLINK DIGITAL CHINA HOLDINGS DIRECTV GROUP ELPIDA MEMORY EMC

Square COO says sights are set on beating PayPal

Source: http://rss.cnn.com/~r/fortunebrainstormtech/~3/nbS_CS0eA7k/

QUANTA COMPUTER RESEARCH IN MOTION ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS SAIC SATYAM COMPUTER SERVICES

Twitter planning photo-sharing service

Twitter expected to announce its own photo service to compete with Twitpic and Flickr

Twitter is to launch its own photo-sharing service to compete with existing services such as Twitpic, Yfrog, Instagram and Flickr, according to multiple sources.

The announcement is expected this week at the D9 conference in California, where the company's chief executive Dick Costolo will be speaking on Wednesday.

The service may be provided via the website twimg.com, which Twitter has owned since July 2010, according to Techcrunch, which first reported the plans.

One possibility is that the photo service will be monetised by including advertisements as Twitter tries to move to a more commercial model.

The move will be seen as further encroachment by Twitter on areas formerly seeded and exploited by third-party developers. Earlier this year, the company told developers to stop making their own desktop and mobile clients for displaying Twitter timelines ? dismaying many who had created a competitive development environment while leveraging the Twitter API that hooked directly into its database.

Last week it announced that it had bought the UK-based Twitter client Tweetdeck for a rumoured $40m (�24m), confirming its ambitions to control more of the client space. Tweetdeck is used by an estimated 13% of its users.

The move into photo-sharing ? a space made famous by Twitpic after the photograph of a downed passenger plane on the Hudson river tweeted by Janis Krums in January 2009 ? will be unpopular among developers, who may begin to question what areas Twitter does not want to control.

Charles Arthur

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/may/31/twitter-plans-photo-sharing-service

GOOGLE GOOGLE FORMFACTOR FISERV FIRST SOLAR

How to Shave With Olive Oil

As many as 62 percent of people claim to have sensitive skin at one stage or other.[1] Sensitive skin can react poorly to the chemicals in commercial shaving creams and lotions; they can be strong enough to dry out and irritate sensitive skin, leaving you feeling uncomfortable and even more sensitive.
One solution is to turn to using olive oil; it's handy in the pantry, affordable, and it is a natural lubricant that not only makes it easier to shave your skin but it will also leave your skin smooth and soft.[2] All-natural, budget-savvy, and moisturizing all-in-one, olive oil is a shaving solution you have got to try!

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Shave-With-Olive-Oil

NETGEAR NCR NATIONAL SEMICONDUCTOR NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS MOTOROLA

Google Wallet: A big deal or another Buzz?

Google is right ? replacing credit cards with smartphones is a great idea, But will it work?

After weeks of rumors, Google finally announced its near field communication payment system, christened Google Wallet. It must be big because PayPal sued, but how big?

Let's start with the basics.

First, the ostensible goal is to get rid of the antiquated multiplicity of insecure credit cards and replace them with your smartphone ... your smartphone is your wallet.

Second, "near field" really is just that: Short-range (4cm, 1.5in) wireless communication between the Point Of Sale (POS) terminal (calling it a "cash register" no longer seems fitting) ? and the smartphone.

The use scenario is obvious: In line at Safeway, after all the articles for the Memorial Day BBQ have been scanned, I wave my smartphone and off we go. Quick and simple.

The prospect of contactless debit/credit transactions has been around for a long time. Decades ago, GSM phones, which contained a reasonably secure SIM module using SmartCard technology, were seen as a replacement for plastic payment cards. A bit later, I remember a Northern Europe vending machine demo: Each item was associated with a phone number; dial the number and the beer can falls. Next month, the transaction appears on your phone bill, as the carrier agreement dictates ... just like with Minitel transactions. (Note the carrier role, to be revisited.)

These old examples don't involve near-field communication, but they point to an old desire: We can do better than cash and cards. Other companies ? Vivotech, Verifone ? have tried to either replace or supplement the debit/credit card.

The basic idea is unchanged: The card is a token, a unique number encoded in a magnetic stripe. The latest notion is to store the number on another medium, one that can be read without contact, through a short-range wireless connection

It sounds simple, logical, fast, and safe.

But, so far, contactless replacements for debit/credit cards have failed to take the market by storm.

One reason for the modest success of NFC payment systems is the consumer's entrenched habits and cognitive obstacles. "Plastic" is well understood, it works, it's accepted everywhere around the world ? and each card is a totem of a distinct account. Well-meaning experts saw that the "magstripe" had more than enough room to store the information for a dozen credit cards and tried to promote multi-account cards. It didn't work. Merchants and customers found the invisible abstraction of a "multi-card" difficult to manage. By the same token, pardon the pun, consumers today see little benefit in making their familiar, physical cards disappear into a contactless device, whether it's a dongle or a mobile phone.

Nonetheless, the desire to do better than the old, dumb, insecure plastic refuses to die.

Enter the smartphone. As Brian Hall, the Smartphone Bard, likes to say: The smartphone destroys everything. Particularly business models.

Smartphones have taught us the benefits of a multi-use device: Multiple accounts for email, Facebook, iTunes, Amazon, in addition to the phone, camera, and MP3 player. Further training is provided by uses such as smartphone boarding passes that are displayed and scanned at the gate: A nice example of a reasonably secure method of authenticating a transaction.

(Speaking of transactions, smartphones play an ever larger role in commerce. AdMob, Google's mobile advertising arm, receives 3.5 times more requests than a year ago.)

In November 2010, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon ? the usual suspects ? formed a smartphone contactless payment alliance called Isis. American Express jumped in the fray, and Visa followed with its own contactless payment proposal. Other smaller but more agile players such as Mopay and Boku, to name but a few, will make the fight between incumbents and newcomers interesting to watch ? and perplexing for merchants and consumers.

Perhaps the big carriers were reacting to rumors that Google and Apple were getting into the NFC payments game, or maybe they authentically sensed the possibilities, the torrents of money, a chance to increase the sacred ARPU by getting a cut of contactless payments. In any case, they had a concept. As for the implementation? Visit the news section of the Isis website and you'll see how far these carriers are from an actual solution.

Google Wallet takes the concept much further. They've looked at the problem through the lens of their one and only business: advertising. With Google Wallet (I don't know if they'll claim ownership of the latter word) on your smartphone, you'll get much more than a contactless credit card replacement. You'll see ads and receive promotional emails, store coupons for this weekend's deals ? from pizza to electronics ? and be able to use payment alternatives such as Google Checkout.

Compare this with the "old" process: see an ad in the Sunday supplement, clip the coupon, make sure you stuff it in your wallet, go shopping, whip out the coupon at the cash register, pay with your card. For merchants, Google's NFC is the link to a seamless marketing campaign: Lure customers with special offers and then offer a smooth transition from promotion to "e-coupon" to purchase and payment.

This could be big ... if Google can get it to work. They have the means to do it, to make it a standard, and they could reap massive amounts of payment processing revenue and additional advertising as a result.

But ... matters of implementation are likely to interfere.

Even if consumers continue to accept the concept of a unified account device, there's still the problem of the "physical plant", the infrastructure of tens of millions of credit card terminals around the world. Going NFC means replacing these well-debugged and cheap magstripe readers with hybrid contactless and magstripe machines ? a hugely expensive proposition. Who's going to pay for the hardware upgrade: the merchant, the payment processor, or the customer?

And the (big) carriers might get in the way if they perceive (as they should) that Google is trying to disintermediate them. Currently, Google Wallet is only available through the Sprint Nexus S phone. Visa/AT&T/Verizon are conspicuously absent in the announcement. For Google Wallet to succeed, carriers will have to distribute Wallet-enabled Android phones, or perhaps Google will "openly" force every Android licensee to carry the Wallet (hardware + software).

Google is right: Replacing credit cards with smartphones is a great idea. Further, Android being Google's way to break into the new business models created by the smartphone revolution, Google Wallet is a logical outgrowth, an unavoidable tentacle.

(On Google's overall disintermediation strategy, read Bill Gurley's terrific and, for some, terrorising piece: The Freight Train That Is Android.)

But, as we've seen with social networking ? and with Google's older payment system, Checkout ? simply being a logical component of Google's arsenal doesn't always mean success.

JLG@mondaynote.com

Jean-Louis Gass�e

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/may/30/monday-note-google-wallet

EMC FIDELITY NATIONAL INFORMATION SVCS FISERV GOOGLE GRUPO IUSACELL

Most Apps' Privacy Policies Continue To Be Missing In Action

Digital privacy has received a lot of attention in the past year, but one area that stands out as still lacking is the fast-growing world of mobile apps. The Future of Privacy Forum think tank analyzed the top 30 paid apps this week, and discovered that 22 of them lacked even a basic privacy policy. The existence of a written privacy policy is a minimum standard that all developers should adhere to, says FPF, and now the group has put together a website, applicationprivacy.org, meant to help developers create privacy policies and stick to them.

Source: http://feeds.paidcontent.org/~r/pcorg/~3/i7YpHWxWpUc/

DIEBOLD DELL CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR ACCENTURE ACER

HTC Mazaa is 12-megapixel WP7.1 Mango handset? [Video]

Remember that 12-megapixel HTC Windows Phone we told you about earlier? It’s looking increasingly possible that it could be the�HTC Mazaa,�which leaked back in April, a so-far unannounced CDMA/GSM World Phone. Eldar Murtazin has shared a lengthy Windows Phone 7.1 Mango preview video (which you can see after the cut) as part of his hands-on [...]

Source: http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/fkY-iRgFZ8g/

LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS LAWSON SOFTWARE LAND SOFTWARE LAM RESEARCH L1 IDENTITY SOLUTIONS

Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial Day Weekend: Regular Posting And Newsletter Resume May 31

We?ll be taking a three-day weekend in honor of Memorial Day. Regular posting and the newsletter will resume on Tuesday morning, May 31, but, as always, we?ll update the site for any breaking news.

Source: http://feeds.paidcontent.org/~r/pcorg/~3/EIbh4G00dPk/

QUANTUM QLOGIC PROGRESS SOFTWARE PLANAR SYSTEMS PEROT SYSTEMS

Ballmer?s Latest Acquisition

Source: http://www.mondaynote.com/2011/05/15/ballmer%e2%80%99s-latest-acquisition/

SIEMENS CDW CHINA MOBILE CISCO SYSTEMS COGNIZANT TECH SOLUTIONS

The Greatness of Tom Tomorrow, Chapter 514

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JamesFallows/~3/VhlbesH18gY/click.phdo

BT GROUP CANON MEMC ELECTRONIC MATERIALS MICROSOFT MILLICOM INTL CELLULAR

Ziff Davis Hires New Executives, Plans To Develop More Tech Products

Ziff Davis has created two new roles at the company that are meant to expand its profile as more than a publisher of tech news and reviews. Six months after developing its own in-house ad targeting platform and acquiring tech deals site LogicBuy, the company has named Vindico’s Joey Fortuna its first chief technology officer and has brought in Cond� Nast’s Kathleen Kincaid as VP of product development.

Source: http://feeds.paidcontent.org/~r/pcorg/~3/DU7qJDLBQ3U/

GOOGLE FORMFACTOR FISERV FIRST SOLAR FINISAR

Cory Lidle Plane Crash: the Jury Speaks

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JamesFallows/~3/389Y1f5s0CI/click.phdo

NOKIA NVIDIA ORACLE POWERCHIP SEMICONDUCTOR PRICELINECOM

Why Windows Phone will be a success, and Ballmer was smart to kill the Kin

Is it the new 'Mango' interface that will do it? Or something else? And why was killing a phone that cost $1.5bn to get to market wise?

Listening to Microsoft's people explain the new features in "Mango" - the forthcoming (late September? October?) update to its Windows Phone platform, I had something of an epiphany, and realised a couple of things.

First: Windows Phone is going to be very successful. Within a few years it is going to be one of the three major smartphone platforms, rivalling Google's Android and Apple's iOS and ahead of RIM's BlackBerry.

Second: killing the Kin was a brilliant move. Although people are repeatedly rude about Steve Ballmer, he is actually a very smart dealmaker who does have a clear idea of where Microsoft needs to go, and how to get there. And realising that, I understood that one of the cleverest things he has done in the past year was to kill off the Kin phone.

Neither of these things, let me emphasise, was said to - or even urged on - me by anyone from Microsoft. They aren't giving any forecasts about where they expect Windows Phone to be in one year, two year, five years. They won't comment on the killing of the Kin; it was simply something that was done, and that's it. So this is my analysis, based on lots of research into the smartphone market, and Microsoft (because - can I bore you? - I'm writing a book on Microsoft, Apple and Google and their many business battles. Out next year.)

So why do I think that Windows Phone is going to be a significant player? One element was hearing the announcement on Tuesday that it's now challenging RIM for the number of apps in its store - something around 15,000. Having come from a standing start in October, that's really very impressive; RIM, which has around 55m users worldwide, has been running an app store since mid-2009. Its lack of traction is telling. What's more, at some point it is likely to have to make a smartphone OS transition that will involve QNX, the OS underlying its PlayBook tablet.

Clearly, Windows Phone has significant developer momentum. That's important.

But the real reason why the lightbulb went on is much simpler: Nokia.

This may disappoint the Windows Phone people slightly, but while I think that the interface shows a lot of promise (read my review from October) and that Mango is an improvement (listen to the discussion on the latest Tech Weekly podcast), it's not actually that important.

Nope, the thing about Nokia is that it is a steamroller. People who have been counting it out because Stephen Elop has decided to abandon Symbian, which has of course hit employee morale.

Well, these things do hurt. But Nokia is a resilient company, and its expertise is in manufacturing (if you've compared a Symbian smartphone to an Android, iPhone or... Windows Phone device lately you'll know it isn't in software).

Nokia sells around 110m handsets per quarter of which more than 20m are smartphones; and almost exactly 50% of its mobile phone revenue comes from those smartphones. Nokia is a fantastically well-oiled machine for selling phones, and has been doing it for years; it sells more phones than any other manufacturer. And it sells more smartphones per quarter than any other manufacturer.

Nokia has enormous geographical reach, and it's virtually synonymous with "mobile phone" in a number of countries. Sure, the US and Europe have been going off it. But it's strong in other regions. It has good relationships with carriers. It can shift phones when it wants to.

So if Nokia turns up in 2012 with smartphones running Windows Phone, carriers aren't going to turn it away. They're going to be delighted. Especially if Nokia can use its legendary supply chain strengths (a hardware element) to push prices down. Once Nokia starts shipping Windows Phone products in any numbers, it's going to sell them as fast as it can make them. What's not to like? It's a friendly interface. It connects. It's not maddeningly confusing.

Look at it the other way around: how, exactly, could Nokia screw this up? Only if it can't get Windows Phone to run on its phones. Likelihood? Tiny - HTC, Samsung, ZTE (new partner), LG have all managed it.

Or, alternatively, if it prices them too high. But Nokia can make in greater volume than those others.

Or if it pushes the Symbian handsets too hard. But again, that's easy enough - price Symbian to sell, price Windows Phone to profit.

Conclusion: by the end of 2012, Windows Phone sales are going to explode. Its user interface really won't matter. It's not Mango that will make it sell. It's Nokia. Quite what its market share will be in the US and Europe - and whether it will be as large as in other regions - is less sure, but (reality check) those regions aren't the world.

A prediction? Windows Phone should easily get 20% of the smartphone market by the end of 2012. It could conceivably do better.

Now to the second point: killing the Kin. What, that move that everyone said indicated that Microsoft's mobile division was in a complete state of meltdown? Yup, that decision.

In case you need reminding, the Kin was the result of Microsoft's 2008 acquisition of Danger, which had built the Hiptop, for a price rumoured at $500m. (One of the original founders of Danger was Andy Rubin, who later started a company called Android, which was acquired by Google in 2005.)

Then at a cost of around $1bn, the Kin phone was produced under the codename of "Project Pink", led by J Allard, who had previously pointed out the importance of the internet to Bill Gates in the 1990s, drove the idea of building a games console, and drove the idea of Microsoft building its own Zune music player. (Well, two out of three ain't bad.) The project then came under the control of Andy Lees, head of the Windows mobile division.

The phones were imagined as "social" devices, and were going to be based around Windows Phone 7, which was then under development; but delays there meant it had to run on Windows CE instead. Around $1bn was spent on development.

The Kin went on sale on Verizon in the US on the first fortnight of May 2010; it was Kin killed on 30 June 2010, after just 48 days on the market.

The thing about the Kin was that it was, basically, a feature phone - limited contacts, no instant messaging, no apps, no calendar syncing. Not a smartphone by a mile.

I think that Steve Ballmer could see that there was absolutely no future in the Kin. The arc of the entire mobile market is towards smartphones; in five years' time, you'll struggle to find a phone on sale that isn't what we'd now call a smartphone. Possibly that will be true even in two years' time, because that segment of the market is growing so quickly. Supporting the Kin was simply a waste of time and money, because it was already the past. Trying to support two phone operating systems at once would be a recipe for conflict and confusion within the company; outside, with carriers, it would be even worse. (That's why Windows Mobile is being slowly, and silently, wound down.)

Ballmer, I think, could see that - just as he can see (and, as Microsofties and ex-Microsofties have been telling me) that the company needs to align its focus on consumers, because there are always going to be more consumers than businesses. He has in fact been driving a relentless consumer agenda very subtly inside the company for years now, but it's in mobile that we see it come through. And he's well-advised on the direction of travel for phones generally.

Even so, Ballmer must bless the day that Elop got the gig at Nokia. It was probably inevitable that Elop would reach the conclusion he did about Symbian's essential worthlessness - the Nokia board certainly had - and look for alternatives. Then it was only a question of Ballmer closing the deal. Elop did well there: Microsoft is paying billions for the privilege of getting on Nokia's smartphones.

Which brings us to money. Having Windows Phone on lots of handsets isn't going to be the same as having it on lots of PCs. There isn't the same amount of money in a phone licence. The ancillary services (search, Skype?, others) that Microsoft is going to push won't generate as much as the PC market has. With that stagnating, it might be that Ballmer is going to have to adjust his company to a smaller future. But at least it has a future.

If that's so, though, he's positioned the company well for it. A serious contender in the smartphone business which has a clear focus.

The next couple of years are going to be very interesting.

Charles Arthur

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/may/25/windows-phone-future-bright-smartphones

YAHOO XILINX WESTERN DIGITAL VOLT INFORMATION SCIENCES VISHAY INTERTECHNOLOGY

Firefox 7 'Nightly' adds to version confusion, but that's OK, we help you choose the right one

By Nick Peers

If you thought three builds of Firefox was hard enough to keep up with, now there is another -- Firefox "Nightly," currently v7. We've prepared a quickie guide to help you understand Mozilla's pumped-up development channel.

Source: http://feeds.betanews.com/~r/bn/~3/gLkeAxSm-o8/1306503059

CHINA MOBILE CISCO SYSTEMS COGNIZANT TECH SOLUTIONS COMCAST COMMSCOPE

This Is a First-Launch Experience of a Popular Highly-Rated Camera App on Android

Source: https://twitter.com/#!/mathowie/status/73808526316802048

DISCOVER FINANCIAL SERVICES DIODES INORATED DIEBOLD DELL CYPRESS SEMICONDUCTOR

How gold farmers reap huge harvest from online gaming

Estimates suggest 400,000 people are employed to build up credits in games such as World of Warcraft and EverQuest

Tens of millions of people spend hours and pay big money for virtual gains on the most popular multiplayer online games, including World of Warcraft, Eve Online and EverQuest.

Behind these games are "gold farmers", who spend hours within the games each day, gathering virtual credits and selling them to gamers for real world cash.

The most recent estimates, from 2009, suggest that 400,000 people are employed as gold farmers across the world, with 85% of those in China and Vietnam, according to Professor Richard Heeks of the University of Manchester.

These gold farmers are almost entirely males between 18 and 25, and most are either cash-strapped college students or unemployed rural migrants. They sell in-game advantages ? an increased skill level, or a virtual ore ? to players eager to boost their online reputation.

The multiplayer online games industry has boomed in recent years thanks to increased internet access and the rise of social networks. World of Warcraft, easily the most popular of its kind, had 12 million subscribers last year.

According to a report published by the World Bank last month, gold farming was worth about $3bn (�1.85bn) in 2009 ? most of which was kept by developing countries.

Josh Halliday

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/may/25/gold-farmers-online-gaming

MOTOROLA MOODYS MISCROSOFT OFFICE MICROSOFT MICROSEMI

5 Rules for Golf Etiquette

Good golf etiquette is important for many reasons. Many rules pertain to the safety of other golfers, the quality of the golf course, and various other aspects of thoughtfulness which make the game more enjoyable.
In other words, having golf etiquette is an essential part of the game that many new players overlook and that even some non-novices occasionally forget. Brushing up on your golf etiquette will ensure that you get the most out of the game and have a truly rewarding experience.

Source: http://www.wikihow.com/Have-Good-Golf-Etiquette

SPANSION SONUS NETWORKS SONIC AUTOMOTIVE SKYWORKS SOLUTIONS SILICON LABORATORIES

Boot up: Developers prepare Lodsys fight, Dell XPS 15z review, and more

Plus BlueStacks raises funding to bring Android apps to Windows PCs, and how the UK's average upload speed is slower than that of Zimbabwe

A quick burst of 11 links for you to chew over, as picked by the Technology team

Developers band together to fight Lodsys if necessary

"After Lodsys started sending threatening letters to developers, Apple took some time to issue a statement to developers hit by the notices which seemed to provide cover for them. Unfortunately, nothing in Apple's letter to developers said, 'We'll pick up the tab for any legal costs you incur.' So a band of developers have decided to pool their resources and secure counsel to help defend any legal action should Lodsys actually file suit against any of them."

Smart to be prepared.

Start-Up BlueStacks Raises Cash to Bring Android Apps to Windows PCs - AllThingsD

"[Rosen] Sharma, the company's CEO, told AllThingsD that the company thinks it will find eager customers among PC makers looking to stand out from one another, while reacting to the rise of the iPad and Android."All of them are suffering because the iPad came out," Sharma said. 'They don't really have an answer. The answer most of them come up with is lets make an Android tablet.'

"However, Sharma said he questions how many [of those tablets] they will sell, particularly if they don't have anything to stand out from the pack."

Has $7.6m in venture funding. Our forecast: a pivot in the near future because Windows machines aren't good for touch-driven apps.

Global Broadband Performance >> Google Public Data Explorer

Astonishingly, the UK's average upload speed is lower than that for Zimbabwe. Intriguing data set, fun tools.

On TermKit >> Steven Wittens

Intriguing idea: just as you have WebKit for rendering web pages, why not have "TermKit" for rendering the output of Unix terminal pages in a more user-friendly format?

Revised cookies' law and lack of guidance takes the biscuit >> CRITique

"When we issue email alerts on an imminent change in law that is likely to have a wide impact on normal business activities, we seek to give clear guidance on what steps must be taken for compliance with the new law.
"Regrettably, this is rather difficult to do for the new law on the use of cookies, which comes into effect on 26 May 2011."

This is a horrendous mess.

Misuse of 3-D digital lens leaves 2-D movies in the dark >> The Boston Globe

Wonder why sometimes films at multiplexes seem dark for no obvious reason? "A description of the problem comes from one of several Boston-area projectionists who spoke anonymously due to concerns about his job. We'll call him Deep Focus. He explains that for 3-D showings a special lens is installed in front of a Sony digital projector that rapidly alternates the two polarized images needed for the 3-D effect to work.
"When you're running a 2-D film, that polarization device has to be taken out of the image path. If they're not doing that, it's crazy, because you've got a big polarizer that absorbs 50% of the light.''

Female Magazine Readers Flock to Nook Color >> NYTimes.com

"The Nook Color has surprised publishers of women's magazines like O, The Oprah Magazine, Cosmopolitan and Women's Health by igniting strong sales that rival -- and in some cases surpass -- sales on the iPad.
"The success was not so easily predictable for a device that has been on the market only since November and faces stiff competition from Apple, Amazon and the Android-based tablets."

Not available in the UK, of course.

Google decides knowledge is power >> I, Cringely

"Microsoft did more than just try to out-search Google. They gave some serious thought to how to make the quest for information on the Internet more productive and useful. Bing struck a chord with users and competitors alike and one result is that Google, too, is becoming more results-centric. That's what is largely behind this perceptual shift from search to knowledge. It was behind Google's Instant Search results, too -- a technically non-trivial effort that lies at the heart of what this particular column is all about. For the moment, Google trading search for knowledge is just posturing, but in the longer run it has really significant meaning. It's a game-changer."

Google decides knowledge is power >> I, Cringely

How to avoid or remove Mac Defender malware >> Apple

"In the coming days, Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants. The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware.
"In the meantime, the Resolution section below provides step-by-step instructions on how to avoid or manually remove this malware."

Going to be interesting to see how much this malware mutates, if at all.

Dell XPS 15z review >> Engadget

Promising a new laptop, says Engadget, "Dell even stated that it would have an 'innovative new form factor' of some sort.
"The company neglected to mention it would look like a MacBook Pro.
"This is the Dell XPS 15z, and we're sorry to say it's not a thin-and-light -- it's actually a few hairs thicker than a 15-inch MacBook Pro, wider, and at 5.54 pounds, it weighs practically the same. It is, however, constructed of aluminum and magnesium alloy and carries some pretty peppy silicon inside, and the base model really does ring up at $999. That's a pretty low price to garner comparisons to Apple's flagship, and yet here we are."

A little later it says: "But let's get this out of the way right now: though the XPS 15z most definitely looks like a MacBook Pro and sports similar materials, you'll wind up disappointed if you're expecting the same exacting attention to detail."

Worth reading the review in full for what it does and doesn't do well.

You can follow Guardian Technology's linkbucket on delicious

Josh Halliday

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/may/25/technology-links-newsbucket

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Memorial Day Weekend: Regular Posting And Newsletter Resume May 31

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Sunday, May 29, 2011

An Update to that Deficit Chart

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? Cutting That Cord

Source: http://daringfireball.net/2011/04/cutting_that_cord

PLANAR SYSTEMS PEROT SYSTEMS PALM OSI SYSTEMS ORACLE

WINtA ? review

(iPhone/iPad, ngmoco, cert: 4, out now)

The success stories of the app store ? Angry Birds, Cut the Rope, Doodle Jump ? are widely publicised, but as game-makers flock to the service hoping their creations will become the next million seller, it's easy for even established developers to get lost in the melee. WINtA sees Masaya Matsuura return to the genre he popularised with PlayStation classic PaRappa the Rapper, but so far his latest rhythm game has struggled for attention.

That's perhaps more of an indictment of its "freemium" pricing model than its quality; just two songs are initially available, while others cost 59p each to download ? though all proceeds go to charity. WINtA's concept is as simple as they come ? tap the screen to match the song's rhythm ? but its accessibility is artful, and it takes real skill to master some of the complex melodies of the eclectic tracklist. Each tune has its own signature visual style, and from the jerky indie-rock of Vampire Weekend to the synthesised funk of Matsuura's own (free) compositions, they're a treat to play along to, even as your mistakes cause the songs to hiccup and stutter as if streamed through a dodgy broadband connection. Challenging, fun and impossibly hip, WINtA is simply too good to be ignored.

Chris Schilling

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Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/may/29/winta-app-review-masaya-matsuura

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Apple App Store far more paid-app friendly than Android Market

Developers looking to sell paid apps will likely find richer pickings in the iOS App Store rather than the Android Market, according to research firm Distimo, which has discovered that around 80-percent of paid titles for Android devices are only downloaded less than 100 times. Meanwhile, only two paid Android apps have been downloaded more [...]

Source: http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/VnHMQ_CyujA/

SI INTERNATIONAL SEAGATE TECHNOLOGY SCIENTIFIC GAMES SANDISK SALESFORCE COM

Letters: Internet regulation at global and local levels

With the amazing legacy we have given the world in computing, mathematics, design and web technologies ? viz Charles Babbage, Alan Turing, Jonathan Ive and Tim Berners-Lee ? we cannot allow America or France to dominate the debates at the G8 about whether or not some regulation is needed for the internet.

Some regulation is needed and Martin Kettle (To want controls on the web may not be cool, but it's right, 27 May) was right to highlight the need to protect children from online pornography. Extraordinarily, this gets short shrift in the US because they hide behind the first amendment of their constitution concerning free speech. Secondly, America loathes signing international agreements or belonging to international organisations which it cannot dominate.

Of course, Google is too close to both the Obama and Cameron administrations and this is not good, much as it wasn't so good a decade ago when Microsoft was in a similar position. Their speakers speak for Google, not for the rights of citizens using their services. Currently, the internet is the responsibility of a worn-out organisation known as the WTO. We need to give it a new home. Given our legacy and the soft power we wield around the world with our Open University, the British Council and the BBC World Service, it is time we came together to create a similar body for the internet. The world will thank us for it.

Derek Wyatt

Founder, Internet Policy Institute

? Your article on use of Facebook by under-13s (Should kids be allowed on Facebook?, G2, 26 May) makes interesting reading. Here in the north-east, we have the absurd situation where Northumberland county council has banned the use of Facebook and all blogs, including your own Comment is Free site. I believe it is only one of a handful of local councils to do so. I have been in a situation where I cannot access work-related material as it is on a blog and is filtered out. While I would not want my seven-year-old accessing Facebook, it is absurd that just down the road in Gateshead, Facebook, WordPress, etc, are freely available to adult users.

Rob Turnbull

Haltwhistle, Northumberland

? Google is offering an electronic payment system for smartphones (Google unveils digital 'wallet' for Android phone users, 27 May). Every payment, the location, time, amount, retailer and possibly other information will be tracked and held by the company. While loyalty card schemes are not dissimilar, the breadth of information Google gathers will increase the surveillance of our everyday lives. No doubt Google profits from this/our information. To quote one supermarket: "Every little helps." We might well retort: "Helps who?"

Andrew Wood

Oxford

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2011/may/28/internet-regulation-global-local-levels

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ASUS ?Padfone? Trademark Applied For Upcoming Tablet/Phone Combo

With the success of the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, the Taiwanese company is getting quite a lot of attention and excitement going for its next crop of mobile devices. For the upcoming Computex 2011 trade show, ASUS released a few teaser images to have us guessing. One of the images suggests a tablet and phone [...]

Source: http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/lJadCNin1DY/

LINEAR TECHNOLOGY LEXMARK INTERNATIONAL LEVEL 3 COMMUNICATIONS LAWSON SOFTWARE LAND SOFTWARE

Chatterbox: Tuesday

The place to talk about games and other things that matter.

It's Tuesday, come and talk about games!

Keith Stuart

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/2011/may/24/chatterbox-tuesday

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Saturday, May 28, 2011

Over 3m homes rely on mobile for internet

O2 found to have fastest and most responsive coverage, but low speeds for mobile network indicate benefits of fixed connection

Around 7% of UK households, or 1.5m of the total 21.3m, use mobile devices exclusively to connect to the internet, and a total of 3.6m, or 17%, used mobile broadband for internet access, according to new research by communications regulator Ofcom.

The study, carried out between September and December 2010 with broadband monitoring specialists Epitiro, found that the number of homes using mobile devices for exclusive access had doubled from 3% in 2009.

The average mobile broadband speed was 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps), which meant that basic web pages took an average of 8.5 seconds to download. The Digital Britain report, which has been taken up by the coalition government, aims for a minimum 2Mbps connection for every home via mobile or fixed broadband.

By contrast fixed broadband over telephone lines offers an average 6.2Mbps in a study done in November and December 2010; with that, the same pages loaded in less than 0.5s.

The research involved over 4.2m tests and measured average speeds as well as the performance of the five mobile operators in areas of good 3G network coverage. However, it did not include smartphones, looking only at 3G dongles and datacards.

Other findings from the Ofcom report include:

? Average speeds rose in areas with good 3G coverage, to 2.1Mbps
? during the "congested" peak evening period of 8pm-10pm, average speeds fell to 1.7Mbps

Different mobile broadband providers performed differently.
? O2, Vodafone and 3 offered faster average download speeds than T-Mobile and Orange, the networks operated by Everything Everywhere
? O2 on average had faster connections than other operators, and more responsive connections when users made web requests

Different locations had different responses, with urban locations offering faster connections than rural ones. But performance was extremely variable.

Ofcom chief executive Ed Richards said: "This research gives consumers a clearer picture of the performance of mobile broadband dongle and datacards as consumers use these services to complement fixed-line services, or sometimes as their principal means of accessing online services.
"The research is another important step in Ofcom's efforts to ensure that consumers have the information they need to exercise their choice effectively and to make the most of competition in the market."

Adam Scorer, director of external affairs at Consumer Focus, said: "Ofcom's research shows that the small number of consumers relying on mobile broadband to get access to the internet is increasing.

"Coverage for mobile and fixed broadband is still patchy, leaving a lottery for consumers who want to get online, especially in rural and remote areas. The internet is increasingly important for consumers to access public services and get the best online deals. It is essential for consumers that the Government and telecoms industry work together to make sure reliable broadband is available to everyone regardless of location. In the meantime, we would urge consumers to check coverage in their area before signing up to any deal."

Derek McManus, chief operating officer for the mobile carrier and fixed broadband provider O2, said: "Our customers are seeing the benefit from the huge investment we've made in our network. We always aim to deliver the best network experience for our customers and these results are another indicator that we're doing just that."

? Ofcom has published a guide for consumers with advice on what to think about when choosing a mobile broadband service.

Charles Arthur

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2011 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2011/may/26/ofcom-mobile-broadband-report

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Uncle! Uncle Newt, That Is.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JamesFallows/~3/2OWHqWMihbA/click.phdo

MICROCHIP TECHNOLOGY METHODE ELECTRONICS MENTOR GRAPHICS IMS HEALTH IMATION

Cell Phone Evolution, Say Farewell to Voicemail

Here are a few of the other noteworthy things we saw today on our never-ending journey through the wild, wild Web.

Read:

Voicemail, an Obituary

Do not leave me a voicemail. I will not listen to it. I'm going to press the corresponding number to delete your message as soon as the automated voice recording concludes. I'm going to press it with conviction, like a little boy who just won a raffle to implode an old baseball stadium.

Eve Online: Audience With The King Of Space

The best analogy for Eve is this: 1% of the time, when you take part in a massive fleet fight, or take part in some epic espionage caper or something, it is the most fun game you will ever encounter. 99% of the time you're just waiting for something to happen. But it's that 1% that hooks people like crack cocaine. I mean, you don't get interviewed by the BBC when you win a WoW raid.

Watch:

Know:

Escape your own extinction in 'Dino Run,' playable online or via the Mac App Store. [From: Dino Run]

Got a tip? Want to talk to us? In need of more choice links like these? Drop us a line on Twitter and check out our Tumblr blog.

Cell Phone Evolution, Say Farewell to Voicemail originally appeared on Switched on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.switched.com/2011/04/07/cell-phone-evolution-say-farewell-to-voicemail/

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B&N Says Foreign-Language E-Books Selling 'Outrageously' Well in U.S.

Selling foreign-language print books in the United States has always been tough due to high prices, hurdles at customs and the difficulties of transporting physical stock. Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) expected that selling foreign-language e-books in the U.S. would work much better—but have been surprised at the demand for them, B&N Manager of International Digital Content Patricia Arancibia said at a Publishers Launch Conferences panel moderated by Michael Cader. The retailer’s sales of foreign-language e-books are now growing faster than sales of English e-books, she said.

Source: http://feeds.paidcontent.org/~r/pcorg/~3/X-Ze6IfHPRM/

INTERSECTIONS INTERNATIONAL RECTIFIER INTERNATIONAL GAME TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES (IBM) INTERDIGITAL COMMUNICATIONS

Lions shoot their own documentary with photographer?s camera

Wild animals are creepy, especially the large ones that could eat me if I happened on them in the wilds. Even the animals at the local zoo can give you the creeps when the lions stare at you as if they would like a snack. In fact, one time my daughter turned her back to [...]

Source: http://feeds.slashgear.com/~r/slashgear/~3/Qgi1gwlqb4w/

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