The Problem With iphone Killers? - Washington Post

MobileCrunch (blog)

The Problem With iphone Killers? Washington Post Here we are again. The hype leading up to a new mobile device is reaching a fever pitch. Motorola's Droid sounds, looks, and by some accounts, is impressive. As such, everyone's favorite superlative is being thrown out there once again: "iphone killer. ... Microsoft, Google and the BearNew York Times A Sneak Peek at Android in Sprint's HeroTheStreet.com IPhone still has the edge in smart phonesSan Francisco Chronicle TopNews United States -24/7 Wall St. (blog) -VentureBeat all 33 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 26 Oct 2009 | 4:19 am

Social Games: How The Big Three Make Millions

So much for the first generation of big Facebook/MySpace social application startups. Slide and RockYou both got huge valuations in venture rounds. But a new generation of application developers has taken...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 4:16 am

Social Games: How The Big Three Make Millions

CrunchBase Profile	Zynga	Playfish	Playdom
Location:	San Francisco, CA	London, UK	Mountain View, CA
Money Raised:	$39M	$21 Million	$0
Revenue:	Estimated $200M	Estimated $75M	Estimated $60M
Rumors:	Strong 2010 IPO candidate	Possible acquisition talks with EA	Raising Venture Capital
Key Apps:	Facebook: Farmville-61M Mafia Wars-25.8M Yoville-19.8M Texas Hold Em’ Poker-18.3M	Facebook: Pet Society- 20.5M Restaurant City-17.3M Country Story- 8M 135 million total installs for all games	Myspace: Mobsters -14M Bumper Stickers-11.7M Own Your Friends-10.1M; Facebook: Sorority Life-7.1M Mobsters 2-3.5M Poker Palace- 1.5M

So much for the first generation of big Facebook/MySpace social application startups. Slide and RockYou both got huge valuations in venture rounds. But a new generation of application developers has taken center stage and are racking up big revenues and their own eye popping valuations: Zynga, Playfish and Playdom.

All three own popular social games on Facebook and MySpace. Zynga’s Farmville has 61 million monthly users. Playfish’s Pet Society has 21 million monthly users on Facebook. And Playdom has 16+ million monthly users of Mobsters on MySpace and Facebook Combined.

All three companies are getting a ton of press and investor attention. Zynga wants to go public next year. Playfish probably already got bought by EA for $400 million or more. And Playdom probably raised an unannounced big chunk of venture capital over the summer.

These three companies may be generating as much as $300 million annually on sales of virtual goods. Need a shotgun to do that next job on Mobsters? No problem. Pay with a credit card, paypal, or your mobile phone and it’s all yours. And people are obviously very willing to buy these virtual goods. Nothing new there.

The goal of all of these games is to get to a higher level, and generally have more fun growing things or killing things faster than your friends. Get addicted to the free version, then start spending to move things along more quickly. Once people are committed, it’s easy to get them to pay. You can read all about it on Business Week.

Except Business Week didn’t mention the dark side of the business at all.

All three companies are willing to give game currency in exchange for offers. Sign up for Netflix. Buy a ringtone subscription. Or energy drinks. Sign up for a credit card. Get car insurance. Take an IQ survey that requires a $9.99/month mobile subscription to see the results. We even found one for arthritis medication. Here’s how it all looks. One executive we spoke with says that 70% of total revenue from these applications may come in from lead generation, not direct payments. Netflix alone will pay $30-$40 for a free trial (requires credit card).

Three companies control most of these lead generation offers: TrialPay (appears to have the most legitimate offers), Offerpal and SuperRewards.

There’s nothing wrong with basing a business off of lead generation, although some of the offers are pretty sketchy (long term credit card or mobile subscriptions for little or not value). And the FTC does tend to take a swipe at them periodically. But the bigger problem is that advertisers may not be getting much for their payouts. As the higher quality advertisers bail, pressure to add the scam artists increases.

The cycle of all of these games is pretty standard. Get new users playing for free, give them incentives to message all their friends to signup, hit them hard for cash or lead generation for revenue, and move them up the levels. Rinse. Repeat.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Source: TechCrunch | 26 Oct 2009 | 4:16 am

The Problem With iPhone Killers…

Here we are again. The hype leading up to a new mobile device is reaching a fever pitch. Motorola’s Droid sounds, looks, and by some accounts, is impressive. As such, everyone’s favorite superlative is being thrown out there once again: “iPhone killer.” Of course, we’ve heard this before — maybe a dozen times. The BlackBerry Storm was the iPhone killer, the Palm Pre was the iPhone killer, the G2, etc. Not only does the iPhone still survive, it thrives. Why?

The answer is easy, but requires some explanation. Fundamentally, the problem with most iPhone killers is that they’re not actually trying to kill the iPhone. They, as devices, may think they are, but most of them are playing a different game because of the OSes they run, and the companies behind them. One way to think about it is to compare smartphones and more precisely, their OSes, to religion (which we’ve done before). This is especially apt since the nickname for the iPhone is the “Jesus Phone.”

In a religious sense, the iPhone is a monotheistic religion. Basically, its OS believes in one device. Yes, I know there is the iPod touch, as well as variations of the iPhone (original, 3G, 3GS), but these are essentially all the same device with essentially the same hardware, just boosted specs. Meanwhile, Android, Windows Mobile, BlackBerry, Symbian, etc. are all polytheists. But “pagans,” while perhaps not exactly right, is a cooler term, so let’s go with that. All of these other mobile OSes are pagans. They answer to many devices, their “gods.”

Now, I’m not saying that the pagan approach is a bad one, I’m simply saying that trying to kill a monotheist device with a pagan OS is going to be very hard. The problem is that none of these pagan OSes have that one, single device that they can use to help spread their doctrine to the masses. They may put more faith in one device at any given time (which Android is already doing with Droid), but ultimately, their allegiance lies with the many other devices under their OS umbrella as well. The pagan church (in the Android case, Google), would be unwise to play favorites because it would undermine the ultimate goal: To be on as many devices as possible.

And I think Google realizes that. While they apparently have had quite a large hand in helping with Droid, it’s Motorola and Verizon that are hyping it big time. But I think Google knows that the Droid isn’t an iPhone killer. Instead, it’s likely the best device they have so far to kill their real competitors: Symbian and especially Windows Mobile. Repeat after me: Android is trying to kill Windows Mobile, not the iPhone.

Another popular way to think about this is the PC (Windows) versus Mac history. Essentially, early on in the history of personal computing, the Mac was king. But then Microsoft came along with an OS that could run on devices from multiple manufacturers, quantity ruled the day, and the rest is history. Android, Windows Mobile, etc are often associated with taking this approach in the mobile battleground.

But things are different now. One could argue that there was a lot of other things going on inside Apple in the 1980s that led to the rise of Microsoft (and, of course, the ouster of Steve Jobs). Since then, Apple, for lack of a better phrase, has gotten its shit together (and brought Jobs back). With the iPhone — meaning the combination of the hardware, the software, and maybe most importantly, the App Store — Apple has created an ecosystem that is fueling itself.

Microsoft, meanwhile, has been trying the same “quantity” approach in the mobile space with Windows Mobile for years now. For a while, it was working fairly well, but that was mostly due to a lack of competition in what was still a very small market. Now, they’re bleeding market share in the space, and the future looks grim. Again, not so much because of the iPhone (which is hurting it short term), but because of Windows Mobile’s true competitor: Android.

Not only is Android open source, but it’s free. Windows Mobile, on the other hand, is still ridiculously charging manufacturers upwards of $25 to use their sub-par OS. Their strategy seems two pronged at this point: 1) Try to leverage the Windows PC brand as much as possible and convince users that Windows Mobile tied to Windows itself create the best environment for mobile. 2) Get out Windows Mobile 7, an entirely new OS, as quickly as possible.

The problem for Microsoft (again, for Microsoft, not Apple) is that Android now has real traction with manufacturers and a massive amount of devices about to hit (including Droid) should push Windows Mobile behind Android in the hearts and minds of the public. And while it’s still smaller in market share, that could change as well much sooner than Microsoft would like to admit.

Let me be clear: I think it’s pretty likely that eventually Android will even be bigger than the iPhone worldwide. Again, it’s a different game. It’s monotheist versus the pagans. It’s Mac versus PC. Even if and when Apple breaks its AT&T exclusivity in the U.S. there will still basically be only one device. Android will have dozens of devices. And even more in other parts of the world. But the iPhone will continue to survive and even thrive, just like the Mac is right now.

By offering one device, Apple is accepting a trade-off: They’re sacrificing quantity for quality. Apple has complete control over its device (and probably too much with regard to the App Store), and because of that, it can build something that melds software and hardware like none of its pagan counterparts can.

In fact, the closest one to doing this is Palm with the Pre. But the Pre is not in the iPhone’s class yet (it’s too slow), and Palm is already getting ready to release another device. And they’re talking about more after than. It’s a more confined pagan religion, but its still pagan. Developers won’t be sure which device they’re developing for, etc.

Apple could go that way too someday. Since the iPhone’s launch, there have been whispers of an “iPhone mini,” but that hasn’t happened yet. More likely in the short term is that Apple’s tablet device may run some variation of the iPhone OS, which would obviously require some changes. But in the smartphone space, there will still be the one device.

And while on the face of it, it may not seem like it, that’s compelling to a lot of people. When you’re forced to choose between dozens of devices with dozens of different specs, it can be daunting for a consumer. With the iPhone, they know what they’re getting. And developers know what they’re getting too. They know they apps will run great on the iPhone because they were able to test it on the device rather than having to buy and test it on dozens of devices.

It’s about controlling the user experience. Whether you agree or disagree with that approach, you have to admit that Apple is very good at it.

Speaking of developers, lest you think any of the pagan smartphone makers will be able to convert iPhone users en masse, there’s a huge point of faith for sticking with the iPhone: Nearly 100,000 applications and 2 billion app downloads. While many people talk about the former being a lure for new users (which it obviously, absolutely is) the 2 billion number is the key for users staying around. Plenty of people have already invested hundreds of dollars in apps which only work on the iPhone. Convincing those people to switch to a Droid or a BlackBerry is going to be difficult. Instead, when they upgrade, they’re likely to pick a device that those apps still work with: A new iPhone.

That’s why this is not about killing the iPhone. Whispers are starting again about a “Google Phone” — that is, hardware developed (or at least entirely dictated) by Google. During the Web 2.0 Summit, Google co-founder Sergey Brin admitted that Google works more closely on some hardware for Android than others, but that’s not enough to make an iPhone killer. If Google (or Microsoft, for that matter) decides to put all of its support (and marketing support) behind one phone, let me know, then we can talk.

But supposedly, even Droid will be a series of phones. Again, the first one look great. And it could be a real killer. A Windows Mobile killer.

[photos: Miramax, flickr/flywood, Apple]

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Source: TechCrunch | 26 Oct 2009 | 4:04 am

The Problem With iPhone Killers...

Here we are again. The hype leading up to a new mobile device is reaching a fever pitch. Motorola's Droid sounds, looks, and by some accounts, is impressive. As such, everyone's favorite superlative is...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 4:04 am

PC vs. Mac deathmatch: Snow Leopard beats Windows 7 (InfoWorld)

InfoWorld - I have a confession: I'm a switcher. My long journey with Windows, which began even before Windows with MS-DOS, ended with Windows Vista. While so many others navigated the Vista debacle by sticking with Windows XP, I gave Vista a try -- and gave up. I leapt to the Mac OS.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 26 Oct 2009 | 4:00 am

Internet addresses to expand into non-Latin scripts (AFP)

AFP - The Internet is set for its biggest technical change in decades when a new multilingual address system is approved this week, a global regulatory body said Monday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 26 Oct 2009 | 3:59 am

Internet set for change with non-English addresses (AP)

AP - The Internet is set to undergo one of the biggest changes in its four-decade history with the expected approval this week of international domain names — or addresses — that can be written in languages other than English, an official said Monday.

Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 26 Oct 2009 | 3:58 am

Internet set for change with non-English addresses

The Internet is set to undergo one of the biggest changes in its four-decade history with the expected approval this week of international domain names _ or addresses _ that can be written...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 3:58 am

Join The TechCrunch Japan TokyoCamp on November 6

The first TechCrunch Japan TokyoCamp that was held in August was a blast, but my guess is the next one will be even bigger and better: I'm delighted to announce the TechCrunch Japan TokyoCamp 2009,...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 3:18 am

Join The TechCrunch Japan TokyoCamp on November 6

The first TechCrunch Japan TokyoCamp that was held in August was a blast, but my guess is the next one will be even bigger and better:

I’m delighted to announce the TechCrunch Japan TokyoCamp 2009, which will be held on Friday, November 6. TokyoCamp 2009 is co-organized by by DESIGN IT!, LLC. (a Sociomedia group company that runs TechCrunch Japan) and Nikkei Digital Core (a community under the umbrella of the Nikkei, Japan’s biggest business publication).

There’s going to be a demo pit (no less than 21 of Japan’s finest startups will demo their wares) and a meetup/networking party afterward.

Registration is required for both events. Here are the details:

TokyoCamp 2009

Demopit
Date: November 6, 2009
Time: Demopit 5:30pm – 7:30pm
Venue: Nikkei Shimbun 2F SPACE NIO*
Fee: Free

Meetup
Date: November 6, 2009
Time: Meetup 8:00pm – 10:00pm
Venue: Manhattan Bleu (B2 floor of Sankei Kaikan, 2 buildings away from Nikkei HQ / Google Maps)
Fee: 6,000 yen

Use this entry form to register.

Please note that we are extremely restricted on numbers this time, so don’t be disappointed if you can’t get on the guest list (TokyoCamp 2009 is strictly an “invitation-only” event). We hope everyone has a great evening and are looking forward to seeing you all on November 6!

*
SPACE NIO, 2nd floor, The Nikkei Head Office
1-3-7, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku
Tokyo Metro Otemachi station: Take exit C2ba for The Nikkei Head Office

Don’t confuse this new location with the old Nikkei Head Office at 1-9-5 Otemachi.

Crunch Network: CrunchBase the free database of technology companies, people, and investors

Source: TechCrunch | 26 Oct 2009 | 3:18 am

FACTBOX-Details of ING split-up and results

Oct 26 (Reuters) - Dutch financial services group ING Group NV will split its insurance and investment management and banking operations, ending the group's combination as formed in 1991. [ID:nLQ54845]...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 3:16 am

Salesforce.com and Adobe: Applications Enriching The Platfom

Salesforce.com and Adobe have entered a partnership that allows developers to create rich Internet and desktop applications in the cloud. The partnership is just one more example of how an ecosystem is...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 3:15 am

Electrolux 3rd quarter profit rises 93 per cent amid cost cuts, higher prices

STOCKHOLM, Sweden - Swedish appliance maker Electrolux AB on Monday reported a 93 per cent rise in third-quarter profit as cost cuts and increased prices on its products helped it defy...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 3:15 am

RPT-PREVIEW-Sony to book Q2 loss, rivals to fare better

* Sony set for Q2 loss, but gaining on Nintendo in games
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 3:00 am

Algorithm Fails - Facebook Reconnect Feature Suggests Contacting Ex-Lovers & Dead Friends (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) The all-new Facebook Reconnect feature is designed to remind you to get in touch with friends you may not have spoken with in awhile with a suggestion box that links to said friends'...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 3:00 am

Concept Toaster Lets You Watch As It Does Its Work

By Chris Scott Barr Toast is one of the more simple foods to make in the kitchen. It’s arguably only more difficult than boiling water. Of course there’s no good way to know exactly when the...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 2:38 am

ANALYSIS-Aggressive China online game firms eye global crown

* Shanda, Changyou IPOs galvanise push for overseas growth
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 2:33 am

DEALTALK-Anglo may unload zinc first in $6 billion auction

* Zinc mines may be first to go in fresh divestment plan
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 2:33 am

UPDATE 1-UK Coal Q3 revenue down, output flat

* Sees FY deep mine output at lower end of earlier view * Sees average sales price for '09 still within view * Q3 output at 1.8 mln tonnes
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 2:32 am

Tilera To Release 100-Core Processor

angry tapir writes "Tilera has announced new general-purpose CPUs, including a 100-core chip. The two-year-old startup's Tile-GX series of chips are targeted at servers and appliances that execute Web-related functions such as indexing, Web search and video search. The Gx100 100-core chip will draw close to 55 watts of power at maximum performance."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 26 Oct 2009 | 2:27 am

Titanic expedition possible in 2010

The company that has exclusive rights to salvage the Titanic is planning a possible expedition to the world's most famous shipwreck in 2010. The first expedition to the North Atlantic...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 2:26 am

UPDATE 3-ING to split in two, launch rights issue

* Will pay Dutch state back in part early * ING shares open 3 percent down
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 2:24 am

Meteorite-like object falls in Latvia

Latvian emergency officials say a fiery object has fallen from the sky and created a large crater in a town close to the Estonian border. Inga Vetere of the Fire and Rescue Service says...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNewsTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 2:21 am

Amazon Pulls Cork on Wine Delivery [Voices]

By Geoffrey A. Fowler and David Kesmodel, Reporters, The Wall Street Journal

Amazon.com (AMZN) has ended a trial program to sell wine online, the company confirmed.

The wine sales pilot, which the e-commerce giant launched last year, was intended to sell wine from California’s Napa Valley and other U.S. regions.

An Amazon spokesman declined to give details about why the company ended the program.

The end of the program may have been related to financial troubles at partner New Vine Logistics, which had been tapped to handle shipments for Amazon. Over the summer, that company suspended operations amid financial problems, but then later got new investment from Inertia Beverage Group.

Read the rest of this post on the original site

Source: All Things Digital | 26 Oct 2009 | 2:00 am

Top iphone Apps For Health Pros, Patients - InformationWeek

Sydney Morning Herald

Top iphone Apps For Health Pros, Patients InformationWeek Healthcare professionals and individuals are finding ways to manage health and wellness with applications for the Apple iphone and ipod Touch. By Mitch Wagner Apple's iphone and ipod Touch aren't just for entertainment and productivity. ... VW Races to iPhone with GTI Ad-AppMarketing Vox News TomTom Car Kit For Apple iPhone On Sale in US Apple StoreI4U Are the iPhone and social networks making the classic Web and intranet obsolete?ZDNet PhoneNews.com -Arsenal Mania -Palm Beach Post all 65 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 26 Oct 2009 | 2:00 am

Apple iPhone Costumes that actually work

More cellphone halloween costumes. Spotted on Gizmodo, iPhone costumes for Halloween that work.
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:52 am

The View from the Climate Crossroads - Reuters

The AtlanticWire (blog)

The View from the Climate Crossroads Reuters The first challenge of global warming has been getting the masses to accept the reality and the threat it poses. That was difficult enough, but seems to have been achieved. However, the second, much bigger ... Skepticism is warming upAugusta Chronicle Global Warming a Cooling Concern for Americans, Report FindseWeek The Real Climate Change CatastropheRight Side News NRToday.com -New York Times -Newsweek all 657 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:50 am

Netflix movie streaming coming to PlayStation 3

Source: Gizmodo | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:30 am

TomTom Car Kit Is Now For Sale, Still Overpriced

By Chris Scott Barr Remember that awesome TomTom iPhone car kit that we told you about not too long ago. Well if you’re one that loves to blow unnecessarily large amounts of money on something only...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:26 am

China Unicom Aims for Rival's Gray-market IPhone Users (PC World)

PC World - China Unicom, which is set to launch the country's first official iPhone sales this week, will look to snatch up subscribers from rival China Mobile by offering 3G service to users of gray-market iPhones.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:10 am

Swap Yahoo! for Google [Voices]

By Tiernan Ray, Blogger, Barron’s, Tech Trader Daily

YAHOO! (YHOO) is using every power at its disposal to improve its fortunes. Unfortunately, it’s missing the market while doing so. The advertising market, that is.
Read the rest of the post at the original site.

Source: All Things Digital | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:05 am

XKCD's eye-watering Geocities tribute

T sez, "I know you folks follow xkcd as good alpha-geeks should, so you won't have missed today's dose of nostalgically eyeball-searing brilliance [ed: a tribute to the soon-to-be-shut-down Geocities]...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:05 am

XKCD's eye-watering Geocities tribute

T sez, "I know you folks follow xkcd as good alpha-geeks should, so you won't have missed today's dose of nostalgically eyeball-searing brilliance [ed: a tribute to the soon-to-be-shut-down Geocities]. Just wanted to make sure you took an extra couple minutes to "view source" on the site's "redesign" though. Well worth poring over the lovingly crafted neolithic HTMLer in-jokes there. <FONT COLOR="#88FF88">srsly.</FONT>"

COMIC TITLE: Nachos (Thanks, T!)

Source: Boing Boing | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:05 am

Apples to Lemons: Microsoft’s New Retail Showrooms [Voices]

By Susan Older, Blogger, TechNewTopia

Hey, I love a blue screen of death as much as anyone, but I wouldn’t drive to the mall just to see one.
I have a Mac. My husband has a PC. This makes for hours of hilarious fun.

Read the rest of the post at the original site.

Source: All Things Digital | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:04 am

Herd Mentality [Voices]

By John Gruber, Editor, Daring Fireball

So of course there’s some degree of herd mentality in every industry. But I think it’s more pronounced, to a pathological degree, in the PC hardware industry. It was at the root of long-standing punditry holding that Apple should license the Mac OS to other PC makers, or that Apple should dump Mac OS and make Windows PCs.

Read the rest of the post at the original site.

Source: All Things Digital | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:03 am

The DVR Vs. Internet Video [Voices]

By Mark Cuban, Blogger, Blog Maverick

The “conventional wisdom” of internet intellectuals is that its a foregone conclusion that the future of content delivery is via the internet. Furthermore, the same internet panel populaters seem to be of the mindset that traditional entertainment and content companies “just dont get it”. History has written that if it can be gotten for free, it should be gotten for free.

Read the rest of the post at the original site.

Source: All Things Digital | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:02 am

How Internet Gambling is Keeping Wall Street Rich [Voices]

By Michael Kaplan, Contributor, Details.com

Like many young men who ruled Wall Street back when high finance was a respectable profession, Vinny Pahuja figured that the stock market would be a bottomless source of riches. Right after graduating from NYU business school, with a dual major in finance and information systems, he landed at Lehman Brothers. Pahuja joined an elite crew on Lehman’s internal trading floor, bringing in boatloads of money selling mortgage-backed securities.

Read the rest of the post at the original site.

Source: All Things Digital | 26 Oct 2009 | 1:01 am

Bodum Bistro Flatbed Toaster

By Andrew Liszewski It looks like Bodum’s unofficial mission to give every kitchen a colorful makeover continues with their Bistro Flatbed Toaster. Like the company’s conventional toasters...
Source: RSS feed - channel BNBlogTech | 26 Oct 2009 | 12:47 am

Netflix coming to PS3 next month

It appears that reports of 360 exclusivity for Netflix have been greatly exaggerated. You could always hack it onto your console, but this is a little more official. The streaming-video service will arrive on PS3s next month, and current Netflix subscribers will be able to watch to their heart’s content at no extra charge. However, in a rather absurd turn, streaming will only be enabled when you have a special Netflix disc in your PS3. What the hell is that about?

Initially, watching movies instantly streamed from Netflix via the PS3 system will be enabled by a free, instant streaming Blu-ray disc that is being made available to all Netflix members. The free instant streaming disc leverages Blu-ray’s BD-Live™ technology to access the Internet and activate the Netflix user interface on the PS3 system, which must be online via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

I don’t even want to speculate, it’s too weird. The content is hosted online, streamed over the internet, and the application and interface can’t take up more than a few megabytes. Yet they feel the need to next-day-air you a freaking Blu-ray disc that’s apparently the only way to access it. That’s a bit like having somebody climb the stairs in order to get to an escalator, isn’t it?

Maybe this is just a temporary thing, but maybe it really is as dumb as it sounds. We’ll know next month. At any rate, it’s a pretty awesome score for Sony. Maybe Microsoft only signed up for a two-month-long exclusive?

Source: CrunchGear | 26 Oct 2009 | 12:17 am

Chess variant from 1934 that pitted agitators against engineers

The March, 1934 issue of Modern Mechanix introduced this remarkable Depression-era chess-variant that pitted "agitators" against "engineers." Love how the entire historical zeitgeist appears to have been captured in 16 chessmen.

MODERN as tomorrow morning's headlines, a newly simplified form of the game of chess has for its game board the Modern World, and for its pieces Farmers, Mechanics, Engineers and even Agitators struggling against forces symbolized by opposing Armies, Bankers, Radio, Press, Law and Middlemen trying to become Rankers.

The play, which is solely a matter of skill, centers around opposing forces trying to dominate one neutral piece called Government while either the red or white side, as the antagonists are named, is in power.

The game may be played by either two, three, or four persons and is substantially like chess. But gone are the Pawns, the Knights, and the Kings and Queens,

Agitators, Engineers Are Chessmen (Mar, 1934)


Source: Boing Boing | 26 Oct 2009 | 12:07 am

Save the Planet, Eat Your Dog

R3d M3rcury writes "New Zealand's Dominion Post reports on a new book just released, Time to Eat the Dog: The real guide to sustainable living. In this book, they compare the environmental footprint of our housepets to other things that we own. Like that German Shepherd? It consumes more resources than two Toyota SUVs. Cats are a little less than a Volkswagen Golf. Two hamsters are about the same as a plasma TV. Their suggestions? Chickens, rabbits, and pigs. But only if you eat them."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Oct 2009 | 11:16 pm

Crowded theaters build momentum for 3-D at home

Source: Gizmodo | 25 Oct 2009 | 11:10 pm

Netflix streaming coming to PS3 - CNET News

MiamiHerald.com

Netflix streaming coming to PS3 CNET News A Netflix press release spelled out the details of deal. The good news is that the streaming feature--which enables Netflix subscribers to access thousands of movies and TV shows on-demand via the Internet--is available at no extra ... Netflix Movies Stream to Sony's PlayStation 3New York Times PS3 to get Netflix streaming through BD-LiveAfterdawn.com Netflix Cuts Deal to Deliver Movies Over Sony PlayStationWall Street Journal PC World -The Associated Press -VentureBeat all 374 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Oct 2009 | 11:00 pm

FINCAD Hosts Webinar with Celent on Integrated Derivatives Analytics

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- FINCAD, the leading provider of derivatives analytics, featuring global research firm Celent, is hosting a complimentary webinar on October 28 at 11:00 EDT / 16:00 GMT.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Oct 2009 | 11:00 pm

How We Test HDTVs (PC World)

PC World - Since we first began testing HDTVs several years ago, the technology of the sets has changed--mostly for the better. LCDs (including the pricier, more eco-friendly LED-backlit sets) are starting to dominate, even in larger sizes where plasma and rear-projection once ruled. Many sets come with sophisticated options for adjusting display formats and automating image settings for different lighting environments and content types.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Oct 2009 | 11:00 pm

Sony in PS3 movie streaming deal with Netflix

Source: Gizmodo | 25 Oct 2009 | 10:24 pm

Is Windows 7 the Greatest OS Ever? Let Me Count the Ways - PC World

PC World

Is Windows 7 the Greatest OS Ever? Let Me Count the Ways PC World Steve Ballmer recently stated that Windows 7 is the best version of Windows ever. Now that Windows 7 is officially out, the public at large can join that debate and determine if Windows 7 is the best version of Windows yet, or even the greatest ... Windows 7 driver support remains diceyInfoWorld Hasta la Vista, baby: Ars reviews Windows 7Ars Technica Microsoft Earnings Cap Promising WeekMarketing Vox News ZDNet -Tom's Hardware Guide -AnandTech all 80 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Oct 2009 | 10:22 pm

Is Windows 7 the Greatest OS Ever? Let Me Count the Ways (PC World)

PC World - Steve Ballmer recently stated that Windows 7 is the best version of Windows ever. Now that Windows 7 is officially out, the public at large can join that debate and determine if Windows 7 is the best version of Windows yet, or even the greatest operating system of all time. Let's consider the hypothetical question of whether Windows 7 is the greatest operating system of all time.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Oct 2009 | 10:21 pm

Tilera Targets Intel, AMD With 100-core Processor - PC World

TG Daily

Tilera Targets Intel, AMD With 100-core Processor PC World Tilera on Monday announced new general-purpose CPUs, including a 100-core chip, as it tries to make its way into the server market dominated by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices. The two-year-old startup's Tile-GX series of chips are targeted at servers ... New Processor Will Feature 100 CoresWired News Tilera pushes to 100 cores with mesh processorRegister Tilera's New Line to Include ...InternetNews.com TG Daily -TopNews United States -Icrontic all 36 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Oct 2009 | 10:20 pm

Tilera Targets Intel, AMD With 100-core Processor (PC World)

PC World - Tilera on Monday announced new general-purpose CPUs, including a 100-core chip, as it tries to make its way into the server market dominated by Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.
Source: Yahoo! News: Technology News | 25 Oct 2009 | 10:20 pm

New Processor Will Feature 100 Cores

Forget dual-core and quad-core processors: A semiconductor company promises to pack 100 cores into a processor that can be used in applications that require computing punch as video conferencing, wireless base stations and networking. By comparison, Intel’s latest chips are expected to have just eight cores.

“This is a general purpose chip that can run off-the-shelf programs almost unmodified,” says Anant Agarwal, chief technical officer of Tilera, the company that is making the 100-core chip. “And we can do that while offering at least four times the compute performance of an Intel Nehalem-Ex, while burning a third of the power as a Nehalem.”

The 100-core processor, fabricated using 40-nanometer technology, is expected to be available early next year.

In a bid to beat Moore’s law (which states number of transistors on a chip doubles every two years), chip makers are trying to either increase clock speed and add more cores to a processor. But cranking up the clock speed has its limitations, says Will Strauss, principal analyst with research and consulting firm Forward Concepts.

“You can’t just keep increasing the clock speed so the only way to expand processor power is to increase the number of cores, which is what everyone is trying to do now,” he says. “It’s the direction of the future.”

In fact, Intel’s research labs are already working on a similar idea. Last year, Intel showed a prototype of a 80-core processor. The company has promised to bring that to consumers in about five years.

Tilera, a start-up that was spun out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, started in 2007. It says its product will be available in the next few months, which means the company, if successful, will have gone from zero to shipping a powerful chip in just about three years — a very fast timeframe in the semiconductor world. That’s because it has created a chip architecture that removes the challenges present in Intel’s x86 design.

As the number of cores on a chip multiply, a major challenge is how to connect the chip to memory without choking up the processor. That’s why Agarwal says Tilera has used a mesh network architecture. It eliminates the “on-chip bus interconnect,” a central intersection found in most multi-core CPUs through which information must flow through to get between the cores of a chip. That central interconnect presents bandwidth issues of its own, and also forces engineers to limit the number of cores on a chip to avoid information gridlock.

Instead, Tilera places a communication switch on each processor and arranges them in grid-like fashion on the chip. Because the overall bandwidth is greater than that of a central bus, and because the distance between individual cores is smaller, Tilera say it can cram in as many as 100 cores on a processor without running into bus bandwidth congestion.

Each core has a full-featured, general-purpose processor that includes L1 and L2 caches, and a distributed L3 cache. The cores are overlaid with the mesh network, which provides extremely low-latency, high bandwidth communications between the cores, memory and the processor’s input and output.

“If you need huge computing power, say for instance to encode and decode multiple video streams, our processor can do it at much more efficiency than Intel chip or a digital signal processor,” says Agarwal.

And unlike GPU-based computing systems, programmers can recompile and run applications and programs designed for Intel’s x86 architecture on Tilera’s processor.

“Tilera has put forth a novel approach to massively parallel programming,” says Strauss. “The 100-core processor is closer to a generic processor than anything else we have seen before.”

Don’t expect it to run Windows 7 on it though. For that, consumers, will have to wait for Intel’s version in a few years.

See Also:

• Overclocked AMD Processor Is Cool At 6.5 GHz
• Intel Launches New Desktop Processor
• Netbooks Set to Get More Video and Audio Oomph
• Why Intel’s Processors Aren’t Big on Cellphones

Photo: Tilera’s wafer for 64-core processor/Tilera

Source: Wired: Gadget Lab | 25 Oct 2009 | 10:01 pm

Adobe and Salesforce.com Form Strategic Alliance to Advance Application Development in the Cloud

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Oct 2009 | 10:01 pm

HTC Unveils Global Advertising Campaign and New 'Quietly Brilliant' Brand Positioning

TAOYUAN, Taiwan, Oct. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- HTC Corporation, a global smartphone designer, today unveiled a global advertising campaign that is based on HTC's new "Quietly Brilliant" brand positioning.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Oct 2009 | 10:01 pm

With Kapitall, Investing is Finally Getting Interesting

Learn the basics of investing to build their mastery levelFind investing ideas using a ground-breaking drag & drop interfaceStudy their ideas with our powerful, but intuitive research toolsShare research, portfolios, and investing ideas with fellow KapitallistsInvest
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Oct 2009 | 10:01 pm

Jeff Bezos, Spark Capital, Bet on Aviary, a Web-Based Would-Be Adobe [MediaMemo]

Last week, Jeff Bezos made $2 billion in one day, courtesy of a massive spike in Amazon (AMZN) shares. What will he do with the extra dough?

Perhaps plow it into more startups like Aviary, a Long Island-based design software company.

Bezos, via his Bezos Expeditions fund, has followed up an 2009 investment in the company with another slug of cash. It’s part of a $7 million Series B round led by Spark Capital, best known in these parts as the guys who have made a very big bet on Twitter — which Bezos also invested in.

If you’re sick of hearing about Web startups with just a vaguest sense of a business plan, Aviary may be a refreshing change. It is trying to make money by selling cheap, Web-based alternatives to popular, expensive, design software, primarily the stuff that Adobe (ADBE) sells, like Photoshop and Illustrator. Granted, it doesn’t make much money yet: It only began selling $24.95 subscriptions to its software suite earlier this year.

Down the line, Aviary also imagines that it will be able to create an online marketplace where the creative types that use its software to bid on work assignments. Sort of like eBay (EBAY) meets Craigslist meets Etsy meets Amazon’s own Mechanical Turk.

Here’s the full press release:

Aviary Secures $7 Million in Series B Financing Led by Spark Capital

Provider of Creative Application Suite in the Cloud Makes Creation Accessible to All and Advances the Growing Digital Economy

LONG ISLAND, New York (October 26, 2009) – Aviary, Inc., a pioneer of a creative application suite in the cloud, today announced that it has received $7 million in Series B financing led by Spark Capital, with participation from existing investors, including Bezos Expeditions, a personal investment company of Jeff Bezos. With a suite of digital creation and editing software available as an online service, Aviary offers a simple and cost-effective solution for creators of all genres – from graphic design to audio editing – to express their creative talents and participate in the burgeoning market for digital goods. In conjunction with the investment, Mo Koyfman of Spark Capital will be joining Aviary’s board of directors.

“Aviary’s robust suite of online creative tools is fundamentally democratizing digital creation. Whereas the market for digital goods was once reserved exclusively for creators using proprietary desktop software, Aviary is delivering creative applications that allow anyone with a browser to participate,” said Koyfman. “And by doing so in the cloud, Aviary allows for seamless online creation, collaboration, distribution and ultimately monetization previously not possible. The Aviary model has the potential to exponentially increase the number of creators and collaborators contributing to the digital economy.”

Until now, the digital creation market has been largely dominated by desktop software solutions which are often cost prohibitive and involve complicated interfaces. By contrast, Aviary offers a powerful creative toolset in the cloud that enables professional and amateur creators alike to easily create their own digital works. The basic Aviary suite is available for free to users and includes an image editor, vector editor, audio editor and more. Users can also upgrade to the pro suite to gain commercial features such as unlimited private storage, as well as collaboration and community enhancements. For more information, visit http://aviary.com/.

“We are disrupting the status quo by eliminating the long-held barriers to digital creation and giving creators the tools they need to create, market and monetize their vision,” said Avi Muchnick, founder & CEO of Aviary, Inc. “We are extremely excited to have Spark Capital on board. Their broad-ranging internet, software and consumer experience will be a tremendous asset to us in furthering our mission to make creation accessible to creators of all genres.”

Source: All Things Digital | 25 Oct 2009 | 10:00 pm

Upgrades of Refinery Plants Fire up the Oil and Gas Infrastructure Security Market, Finds Frost & Sullivan

SINGAPORE, Oct.
Source: RedOrbit News - Technology | 25 Oct 2009 | 9:52 pm

Salesforce And Adobe Partner To Offer Flash-Based Applications In The Cloud

With all of its SaaS offerings, Salesforce.com is consistently integrating with other forms of cutting edge technologies, such as Twitter, Box.net, and more to offer clients more diverse and appealing options. Today, the company is partnering with Adobe to offer the “Adobe Flash Builder,” off of Force.com, Salesforce’s platform to build and deploy enterprise applications.

The new offering is meant to allow developers and IT departments to build cloud-based rich media applications off of Force.com. Developers can use Adobe Flash Builder for Force.com to extend or enhance existing Salesforce CRM implementations and custom-built Force.com applications, or build entirely new applications to meet business needs.

Within the new offering, Adobe’s Flash Builder lets users build these cloud-based internet application that can be deployed to end-users via the browser though Adobe’s Flash Player or to the desktop through Adobe AIR.

The builder lets developers interactive UI features easily, such as drag and drop technology. Developers can also add data visualization
such as charts and dashboards for better management and monitoring of applications. The new builder is also integrated with Adobe LiveCycle Data Services that lets clients automatically synchronize data between the Force.com database and an desktop-based Adobe AIR local data store, allowing developers to build apps that easily connect between the browser and the desktop. A screenshot of a application built with the Adobe Flash Builder is posted below.

Salesforce recently upgraded its Force.com platform by launching Force.com Sites, an application that lets companies build and run their applications for internal use as well as public use on Salesforce.com cloud computing platform. In terms of the enterprise, this is a big coup for Adobe’s Flash platform, which faces competition from Microsof’s Silverlight product.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Oct 2009 | 9:50 pm

LawCrunch: Some (more) ideas on why Nokia sued Apple

As many of you are aware, Nokia filed a lawsuit against Apple last week in the Federal District Court in Delaware. Nokia's complaint alleges that Apple has infringed on 10 of Nokia's patents for various, "fundamental" GSM, UMTS and wireless LAN (WLAN) technologies. In particular, the patents cover wireless data, speech coding, security and encryption. Nokia believes that all 10 patents have been infringed by all Apple iPhone models shipped since the iPhone was introduced back in 2007.

Source: MobileCrunch | 25 Oct 2009 | 8:59 pm

A Chat with FCC Chief Genachowski - BusinessWeek

Ethio Planet News

A Chat with FCC Chief Genachowski BusinessWeek A day after the Federal Communications Commission voted to explore new rules to prevent Internet service providers from blocking certain services and content, the agency's chairman, Julius Genachowski, stopped by BusinessWeek 's offices to ... Net neutrality: Stupid is as stupid doesInfoWorld Net Neutrality FAQ: What's in it for YouPC World FCC Net Neutrality Internet Regulation "Government Power Grab"Opposing Views The Moderate Voice -FierceBroadbandWireless -ABS CBN News all 33 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Oct 2009 | 8:43 pm

A Possible Cause of AT&T's Wireless Clog — Configuration Errors

AT&T customers (iPhone users notably among them) have seen some wireless congestion in recent months; Brough Turner thinks the trouble might be self-inflicted. According to Turner, the poor throughput and connection errors can be chalked up to "configuration errors specifically, congestion collapse induced by misconfigured buffers in their mobile core network." His explanation makes an interesting read.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Source: Slashdot | 25 Oct 2009 | 7:58 pm

Tonight, You Too Can Watch U2 On YouTube, Live

It’s kind of crazy to think that the band U2 has been popular for about 30 years now. Over that three decade span, the group has had music that has ranged from brilliant (War, The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby) to self-indulgent (Pop) to a bit odd (Zooropa). But there has been one constant: They’ve always been a great live act. And tonight, a lot of the world will be able to see that from their computer screens.

U2 is streaming their concert tonight from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California live to YouTube. As the site announced earlier this week, some 16 countries will be able to view the show live: Australia, Brazil, Canada, France, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, U.K., U.S. (other countries were presumably excluded due to streaming rights). The show will start at 8:30 PM PT tonight, and you can find it here.

During the show, YouTube will also feature a Twitter widget below the video player that will be displaying tweets from people who use the #U2webcast hashtag.

If you miss it live, YouTube will also put up the entire recording tomorrow on its U2 page.

U2 and technology have long gone hand in hand. Their ZooTV tour to support their albums Achtung Baby and Zooropa famously featured a massive amount of television monitors and live streaming video from all around the world. Later, U2 of course got chummy with Apple, and released their own branded iPod. But when the private equity firm Elevation Partners (which U2 lead singer Bono is a partner in) purchased a huge stake in Palm, the U2/Apple love affair seemed to sour. And since then, U2 has now seen their most recent tour sponsored by Palm and Apple rival BlackBerry.

Crunch Network: MobileCrunch Mobile Gadgets and Applications, Delivered Daily.

Source: TechCrunch | 25 Oct 2009 | 7:22 pm

LawCrunch: Some (More) Ideas On Why Nokia Sued Apple - Washington Post

Rediff

LawCrunch: Some (More) Ideas On Why Nokia Sued Apple Washington Post Disclaimer: Jeremy Kessel has a JD, but is still waiting for his (July 2009) California Bar Exam results. Thus, he is not (yet) a licensed attorney. Barry L. Cohen, who also shares some insights below, is a licensed attorney. Regardless, this post is ... Nokia's New CFO Takes On IPhone at AT&T, Seeks to Revive StockBloomberg Will the next major patent fight occur between Nokia and Apple?FierceBroadbandWireless Nokia Patents Could Cost Apple £600meWEEK Europe UK Fudzilla -Tallahassee.com -Post-Bulletin all 56 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Oct 2009 | 7:19 pm

New Rocket, but Future of Program Is Unclear - New York Times

BBC News

New Rocket, but Future of Program Is Unclear New York Times The first flight in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's program to build a next-generation rocket to replace the space shuttle could also be the swan song. Chris O'Meara/Associated Press The launching of the Ares IX, ... Test flight necessary to remove 'guess work,' NASA retiree saysThe Huntsville Times - al.com NASA set to test AresWDBO Radio 'We're ready to go' with Ares, but weather may halt launchPlain Dealer BBC News -SatNews Publishers -Orlando Sentinel all 26 news articles »

Source: Sci/Tech - Google News | 25 Oct 2009 | 7:13 pm

Rumor: DSi to have voice chat channel soon

The inclusion of both Wi-Fi and a microphone on the DSI made it a favorite for rumors about phone functionality — and while we’ve seen voice chat in some games, there hasn’t been an official channel for that that I know of. But if new rumors, based on a support page mentioning a DSi Speak Channel, are true, then the most popular handheld in the world will be joining the most popular console in the world in having serious voice chat functionality.

The sentence that set off the rumor:

To redeem a Nintendo DSi Download Ticket number, such as for the Nintendo DSi Speak Channel, enter the number off the Nintendo DSi Download Ticket in “Settings and Features” off of the main Nintendo DSi Shop page, then select “Nintendo DSi Download Ticket.

Sounds pretty serious to me. And after all, Nintendo has been pushing that Wii Speak thing, though I don’t recall hearing about anybody using it ever. Probably because calling your friends on your Wii is just a little too weird. On the DSi, however, it could be really convenient. Say hello to DSiPhone.

Of course, Nintendo has responded saying it’s just a rumor — yeah, we knew that. But they didn’t deny it, so it’s probably true.

[via Edge and 1up]