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  • The Unified Database Of Places Is Coming Soon. Or Maybe Never.

    MG Siegler: That rings true. But the question remains: who will build it? Twitter seems to be passing the buck to Google, who seems to be passing it right back to Twitter. Brightkite clearly wants to, but will any of the other players really trust a rival with their data? If not, will they start…

    MG Siegler:

    That rings true. But the question remains: who will build it? Twitter seems to be passing the buck to Google, who seems to be passing it right back to Twitter. Brightkite clearly wants to, but will any of the other players really trust a rival with their data? If not, will they start to restrict their APIs to make it harder to access the place information in bulk?

    The obvious solution is to have a completely open database, as Erick laid out. But again, that is easier said than done. We’ve seen that time and time again with a number of different initiatives. “Open” sounds great until someone has to actually do it, be in charge of it, and get users to use it.

  • Mobile Hotspot Buyers Guide

    Bill O’Brien: Both are battery-powered devices and the Overdrive does everything the MiFi does but, with the addition of 4G, it has the potential to do it much faster. How much faster? Well, a 4G device should be able to provide anywhere from 100 Mb/s to 1000 Mb/s, depending on usage and locale. As well,…

    Bill O’Brien:

    Both are battery-powered devices and the Overdrive does everything the MiFi does but, with the addition of 4G, it has the potential to do it much faster. How much faster? Well, a 4G device should be able to provide anywhere from 100 Mb/s to 1000 Mb/s, depending on usage and locale. As well, 4G is absolutely, positively, maybe guaranteed to offer seamless hand-offs as you leave one coverage area and enter another. The only problem is that there aren’t that many 4G areas just yet — but they’re coming, and the Overdrive offers 3G compatibility should 4G service not be available.

    Personally I am so close to canceling my MiFi contract and getting the Overdrive. It looks and sounds sweet.

  • Facebook, Zynga, and buyer-supplier hold up

    Chris Dixon: If buyers of traffic (e.g. app makers) fear future hold up, they are less likely to make investments in the platform. The biggest mistake platforms make isn’t charging fees (Facebook) or competing with complements (Twitter), it’s being inconsistent. Apple also charges 30% fees but they’ve been mostly consistent about it. App makers feel…

    Chris Dixon:

    If buyers of traffic (e.g. app makers) fear future hold up, they are less likely to make investments in the platform. The biggest mistake platforms make isn’t charging fees (Facebook) or competing with complements (Twitter), it’s being inconsistent. Apple also charges 30% fees but they’ve been mostly consistent about it. App makers feel comfortable investing in the Apple platform and even having most of their business depend on them in a way they don’t on Facebook or Twitter.

    I have nothing but respect for Mark Zuckerberg and the company he created out of Facebook. At said he is at a critical point in business where he has to decide how much he cares about profitability versus sustained success. I think if they keep secretly screwing users privacy and app developers profits they are not long for this world.

  • Charted: Ad Spending of Tech Companies

    The most telling part is not the dollar amount they are spending, but what that is compared to their revenue. Amazing how much bang for the buck Apple gets. (via Daring Fireball)

    The most telling part is not the dollar amount they are spending, but what that is compared to their revenue. Amazing how much bang for the buck Apple gets.

    (via Daring Fireball)

  • HTC Incredible vs Nexus One

    Michael Whalen: There are more buttons on the Sense phone app than there are in the cockpit of the space shuttle. In the rare case that I need to dial someone rather than from my address book, I don’t need a bunch of crap getting in my way. (via Daring Fireball)

    Michael Whalen:

    There are more buttons on the Sense phone app than there are in the cockpit of the space shuttle. In the rare case that I need to dial someone rather than from my address book, I don’t need a bunch of crap getting in my way.

    (via Daring Fireball)

  • Nokia Adds iPad to Its Patent Fight Against Apple

    HELSINKI (Reuters) — Nokia , the world’s top handset maker, broadened its patent battle against Apple on Friday to include the iPad, deepening the legal fight between the two smartphone rivals. The firms have turned to the courts in the last year as Nokia battles Apple, which only entered the cellphone business in 2007 but…

    HELSINKI (Reuters) — Nokia , the world’s top handset maker, broadened its patent battle against Apple on Friday to include the iPad, deepening the legal fight between the two smartphone rivals.

    The firms have turned to the courts in the last year as Nokia battles Apple, which only entered the cellphone business in 2007 but has taken a sizeable share of the fat-margined, fast-growing smartphone market.

    The Finnish firm, on the other hand, has shed market share in smartphones along with margins and stunned investors last month by delaying its new software upgrade for phones, seen as key in its struggle with Apple.

    This in addition to the report that Nokia is branching out to new fields – they are all signs of a company grasping at straws.

  • Wii Sales Slowing

    Very interesting how long video game consoles rest on their laurels. They need to spend more time innovating and releasing more frequently, retaining backwards compatibility a long the way. The industry is ripe for picking.

    Very interesting how long video game consoles rest on their laurels. They need to spend more time innovating and releasing more frequently, retaining backwards compatibility a long the way. The industry is ripe for picking.

  • Stock Crash Attributed to Trading Glitch

    NYTimes.com: Many firms have computers that are programmed to automatically place buy or sell orders based on a variety of things that happen in the markets. Some of the simplest triggers are set off when a stock drops or rises a certain percent in the trading day, or when an index moves a specific amount.…

    NYTimes.com:

    Many firms have computers that are programmed to automatically place buy or sell orders based on a variety of things that happen in the markets. Some of the simplest triggers are set off when a stock drops or rises a certain percent in the trading day, or when an index moves a specific amount.

    But these orders can have a cascading effect. For example, if enough programs place sell orders when the overall market is down, say, 4 percent in a single day, those orders could push the market down even more — and set off programs that do not kick in until the market is down 5 percent, which in turn can have the effect of pushing stocks down even more.

    Very reminiscent of 1987 (though admittedly I was not aware when it happened then, I have studied it since).

  • What iPads Did To My Family

    This is a great look at something I found to be true for myself. The iPad is not a computer, but I much prefer it to a computer.

    This is a great look at something I found to be true for myself. The iPad is not a computer, but I much prefer it to a computer.

  • Lazy Programmers, Or Arrogant Apple?

    Ian Bogost: The computational ecosystem is burgeoning. We have more platforms today than ever before, from mobile devices to microcomputers to game consoles to specialized embedded systems. Yet, a prevailing attitude about making computational creativity longs for uniformity: game engines that target multiple platforms to produce the same plain-vanilla experience, authoring tools that export to…

    Ian Bogost:

    The computational ecosystem is burgeoning. We have more platforms today than ever before, from mobile devices to microcomputers to game consoles to specialized embedded systems. Yet, a prevailing attitude about making computational creativity longs for uniformity: game engines that target multiple platforms to produce the same plain-vanilla experience, authoring tools that export to every popular device at the lowest common denominator; and, of course, the tyranny of the web, where everything that once worked well on a particular platform is remade to work poorly everywhere.

    It is a kind of computational extirpation, where everything unique is crippled or cleansed in order to service a perverted belief in universality. I consider it a kind of jingoism, and I hope we can outgrow or destroy it.

    Falling into the lowest common denominator trap would devastate innovation.

  • Aussie Government Takes Matters into Their Own Hands

    Nate Anderson: Australia plans to do things… a bit differently. Within the next eight years, the Australian government will spend AUS$43 billion (US$38 billion) to build its own “world-class broadband infrastructure” that will deploy fiber to 93 percent of all Australian homes and bring 12Mbps broadband to everyone else. The network will be wholesale only…

    Nate Anderson:

    Australia plans to do things… a bit differently. Within the next eight years, the Australian government will spend AUS$43 billion (US$38 billion) to build its own “world-class broadband infrastructure” that will deploy fiber to 93 percent of all Australian homes and bring 12Mbps broadband to everyone else. The network will be wholesale only and will be open access, enabling every ISP to use the fiber to offer services.

    This is great for Australians, it really is. It would not be feasible here in the states given the difference in population densities, size and so forth. It does say something though for living in smaller countries.

  • Borders Late to the Party [updated]

    Jessica Wohl: Borders Group Inc said on Friday that it is taking pre-orders for the Kobo eReader, which will arrive in customers’ homes starting on June 17, and plans to launch its eBook store in June. I think the clear eBook winner is going to be Amazon (10% chance it is Apple). Amazon has really…

    Jessica Wohl:

    Borders Group Inc said on Friday that it is taking pre-orders for the Kobo eReader, which will arrive in customers’ homes starting on June 17, and plans to launch its eBook store in June.

    I think the clear eBook winner is going to be Amazon (10% chance it is Apple). Amazon has really hedged its bet. They allow you to read your eBook just about anywhere with their Kindle suite of products. Whereas B&N and Apple only allow reading on one device (for right now) Amazon is trying a more universal approach, making them a safer bet for consumers.

    Should be interesting to see if dedicated eBook readers win out or die off in the next few years. My hunch tells me that dedicated readers will become an even more niche product over the next 6 months.

    UPDATE:

    It appears Borders is trying the Amazon approach:

    The Kobo app (without the Borders connection) is actually already available for the iPhone and the iPad, but neither app has garnered very positive reviews. Our own Erica Sadun found some things to like about the iPad app in her preview last March. via TUAW

  • No verizon iPhone in 2010

    I love being right. Matthew Shaer: Well, hey – not so fast. According to one Wall Street analyst, Apple has now extended its exclusive partnership with AT&T for at least six more months, meaning that Verizon users probably won’t get their mitts on an iPhone before 2010 is out. I will go out and say…

    I love being right. Matthew Shaer:

    Well, hey – not so fast. According to one Wall Street analyst, Apple has now extended its exclusive partnership with AT&T for at least six more months, meaning that Verizon users probably won’t get their mitts on an iPhone before 2010 is out.

    I will go out and say it again, I don’t think Verizon will be getting the iPhone anytime soon. Apple simply doesn’t like to make many different versions of their products and Verizon is not an international carrier like AT&T. They have some world phones but they are expensive quad-band phones. AT&T is an international standard complaint carrier (much like T-Mobile).

    Apple does not want to make one phone for the U.S. and one for everyone else. They also don’t want to be forced to make the iPhone more expensive (or reduce their profit margin) by making it a quad band phone.

    Even more telling is the fact that they advertise talking on the phone, while getting data from an App or the web on the phone. Verizon’s network is not capable of doing this. This should slam the door shut in the face of anyone waiting for a Verizon phone.

    Further if you have been waiting 3 years now to get the iPhone because you want it on Verizon – pull your head out of your ass. I don’t mean to go all ‘fanboy’ here, but it is like not wanting to buy a computer until you get one that comes standard with a drink holder. Don’t be silly, make your life easier.

  • Should Apple Apologize to Jason Chen?

    No they shouldn’t. Will they, probably not. Brian X. Chen: Reasonable people can disagree over whether it was ethical for Gizmodo to purchase the lost iPhone prototype, but the police action — kicking down Jason Chen’s door to seize his computers — was overboard. It was self-evidently a clumsy move: After damaging Chen’s property, the…

    No they shouldn’t. Will they, probably not.

    Brian X. Chen:

    Reasonable people can disagree over whether it was ethical for Gizmodo to purchase the lost iPhone prototype, but the police action — kicking down Jason Chen’s door to seize his computers — was overboard. It was self-evidently a clumsy move: After damaging Chen’s property, the police paused the investigation to study whether the journalists’ Shield Law protected Chen. The proper action would have been to issue a subpoena to get Chen to talk about the device first. Apple, which instigated the police action by filing a stolen property complaint, should publicly apologize to Chen (no relation to the author of this post) and reimburse him for the damages.

    RWow thanks Brian Chen, I guess I will find the person who stole all my shit in college and go apologize to him for filing a police report. Come to think of it we should legalize stealing, I mean I wouldn’t want the police taking someones personal possessions just to try and solve a crime…

  • iAds Could Be Waiting for Anti-Trust Lawsuits

    Eliot Van Buskirk: Apple/Quattro has unique access to iTunes store data. If a developers choose Apple’s advertising platform over a competing platform, they can more easily track the percentage of impressions led to users clicking through to the iTunes store and purchasing the full version of an app — a statistic commonly referred to as…

    Eliot Van Buskirk:

    Apple/Quattro has unique access to iTunes store data.

    If a developers choose Apple’s advertising platform over a competing platform, they can more easily track the percentage of impressions led to users clicking through to the iTunes store and purchasing the full version of an app — a statistic commonly referred to as a conversion ratio.

    This has all sorts of stink on it. I think the only way Apple gets in trouble for this is if iAds is a run away hit. Otherwise it is of little consequence.

  • Steven Levy Revisits "Hackers"

    Steven Levy: They may have begun as a fringe cohort, but hackers alchemized the hard math of Moore’s law into a relentless series of technological advances that changed the world and touched all of our lives. And most of them did it simply for the joy of pulling off an awesome trick. A must read.

    Steven Levy:

    They may have begun as a fringe cohort, but hackers alchemized the hard math of Moore’s law into a relentless series of technological advances that changed the world and touched all of our lives. And most of them did it simply for the joy of pulling off an awesome trick.

    A must read.

  • Google Goggles Now Translates Text in Pictures

    Liz Gannes: If you had any doubt that we are living in the future, Google today introduced visual translation tools for use with a camera phone. Specifically, the new version of its Google Goggles app, available for Android phones running version 1.6 of the OS or higher, can recognize pictures of words written in English,…

    Liz Gannes:

    If you had any doubt that we are living in the future, Google today introduced visual translation tools for use with a camera phone. Specifically, the new version of its Google Goggles app, available for Android phones running version 1.6 of the OS or higher, can recognize pictures of words written in English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish and rapidly translate them into other languages.

    Oh I hope this comes to the iPhone. Awesome the future is here.

  • Did Motorola Buy a Mobile Operating System?

    Kevin C. Tofel: An early look at Azingo’s mobile platform from the 2009 Mobile World Congress shows a fairly robust set of widgets, a WebKit browser, extensive application suites and even support for Flash Lite. Essentially, Azingo Mobile 2.0 is a full smartphone platform on its own, even without third-party software. There’s also specific mention…

    Kevin C. Tofel:

    An early look at Azingo’s mobile platform from the 2009 Mobile World Congress shows a fairly robust set of widgets, a WebKit browser, extensive application suites and even support for Flash Lite. Essentially, Azingo Mobile 2.0 is a full smartphone platform on its own, even without third-party software. There’s also specific mention of an App Store for Azingo apps, so if Motorola did purchase the company, it may have acquired not just a new mobile operating system, but the foundation of a supporting ecosystem as well.

  • AT&T Drops More Calls Than Competitors

    Esther Shein: In an all-time worst rating for a carrier ever recorded by ChangeWave, the research firm said AT&T subscribers reported that about 4.5% of their calls were dropped over the previous three months. Coming in second for the period was Sprint, whose users reported 2.4% dropped calls and T-Mobile customers, who reported a dropped-call…

    Esther Shein:

    In an all-time worst rating for a carrier ever recorded by ChangeWave, the research firm said AT&T subscribers reported that about 4.5% of their calls were dropped over the previous three months.

    Coming in second for the period was Sprint, whose users reported 2.4% dropped calls and T-Mobile customers, who reported a dropped-call rate of 2.8%, was third. Verizon Wireless customers reported the least amount of dropped calls at 1.5 percent, the lowest ever recorded in the survey.

    I can vouch for that.

  • The First Laser

    New Scientist: Because the beam was powerful enough to drill holes in razor blades, physicists measured its power in gillettes, or the number of blades penetrated. 1) I had no clue that a lasers power was measured in Gillettes, and 2) I would not have guessed the reason why.

    New Scientist:

    Because the beam was powerful enough to drill holes in razor blades, physicists measured its power in gillettes, or the number of blades penetrated.

    1) I had no clue that a lasers power was measured in Gillettes, and 2) I would not have guessed the reason why.