Archive for 2010

I have a lot of PCs in my house. No, I mean a LOT. As a result of building software, testing, working with PC manufacturing partners, and owning personal computers, I have no fewer than 19 laptops, desktops, and netbooks in my home. Which prompts a number of problems … not least of which...
Read more »

I can’t figure out what to make of the Kno. If you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s an e-reader. But not like the iPad, not like the Kindle, and not like the myriad of competing Android-based tablets in the marketplace today. The Kno is aimed straight at education, and is designed to replicate...
Read more »

I’m not sure if Big Brother’s peering out at us right now through our LCD monitors. Or maybe it’s just Little Brother, but when it’s Google and Verizon … it’s big enough. Net neutrality is a core concept underpinning the foundations of the entire internet. Everything that goes through the “pipes” is treated equally:...
Read more »

Everyone’s favorite kicking-boy lately is Microsoft, and it’s easy to see why. Mobile is a disaster, Bing is having issues catching Google, the slate/tablet revolution started by Bill Gates has bypassed Windows … in so many ways Microsoft just feels so yesterday. Last week Microsoft execs clarified how they view their business, and how...
Read more »

Fortune Magazine’s Michael Copeland thinks that the “search party” that Google’s been riding for 12 years is over. Google’s growth rates in revenue and profit are slowing, and its relevance in a mobile/social world is diminishing. And Page, Brin, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt simply haven’t articulated a vision for Google’s future. “That is...
Read more »

I saw this story on a Hollywood news site earlier today. It’s basically an article dissing Twitter for not being as big or effective a marketing vehicle as some have cracked it up to be: Why was everyone in the movie business so excited about Twitter? Probably because of its potential, more than anything....
Read more »

What do you do about death and social networking? I saw this story today in the NY Times: Courtney Purvin got a shock when she visited Facebook last month. The site was suggesting that she get back in touch with an old family friend who played piano at her wedding four years ago. “It...
Read more »

The iPhone 4 fiasco continues unabated today, given that numerous independent testing agencies have found its reception lacking. The highly-respected Consumer Reports review might be the final straw: Apple will be forced to recall the iPhone 4 following Consumer Reports tests proving the “Death Grip” antenna issue is not software related, but a hardware...
Read more »

So much for the thin excuse that it’s a software issue … It’s official. Consumer Reports engineers have just completed testing the iPhone 4, and have confirmed that there is a problem with its reception. When your finger or hand touches a spot on the phones lower left side—an easy thing, especially for lefties—the...
Read more »

If I am Microsoft or Apple today, I’m fairly happy. It’s obvious that Google is a huge threat to both Microsoft and Apple. Using its massive cash surpluses from owning the high-volume, high value search ads industry, Google is funding investments that are commoditizing both mobile and “desktop” operating systems … and significant chunks...
Read more »

This is completely, desperately, and viciously true. I’ve experienced it myself. A few months ago the CIO was asked by the chief marketing officer to provide a way for marketing employees around the world to share and build documents together, and perform other collaborative tasks. The CIO discussed the project with his application development...
Read more »

This is smart, timely, and wonderfully well-said:
Read more »

(This was written for PCGuia, a leading Portuguese technology magazine. It was published in the April 2010 edition.) Imagine the classroom of the future. All students have a laptop, all textbooks are interactive and immersive, all teachers have access to rich data on student achievement. Is this a fantasy … or is it already...
Read more »

Portals are getting worried because people aren’t staying in one place on the web anymore (unless that one place is Facebook). According to Compete.com, AOL had 45.5 million unique visitors last month, down slightly from 47.9 million in May 2009 – and a serious drop-off from January, when it saw 55.8 million. Yahoo, at...
Read more »

From Michael Wolff’s excellent post on Newser: For the machine-loving consumer, Jobs’ triumph over Microsoft and Bill Gates is a marvel. Life seldom turns out this way. It’s a first in the history of architecture, where, in the mass market, the sensuous and beautiful triumphs over the functional and economic. The cost of such...
Read more »