Flock Gets Even More Social, Contemplates Its Future

There was a time when I called Flock, the Mozilla-based browser with a social bent, my favorite Web browser. Lately, however, I’ve flitted from browser to browser–it’s not unusual for me to use Firefox, Chrome, IE 8, and Safari in the course of a given day–and have found myself drifting away from Flock.  But the company released Flock 2.5, a new version today. And while it’s not bursting at the seams with new features, what’s there is formidable enough that I might find myself drifting back.

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Palm Pre on June 6th for $199.99: It’s Officially Official

Okay, no more disclaimers: The Offical Palm Blog says that Sprint will start selling the Pre on  June 6th for $199.99 (with two-year contract, after $100 rebate). That’s price parity with the 8GB iPhone, if you’re considering the price after the (ugh!) rebate. And yes, Palm and Sprint will be releasing the phone two days before Apple has the opportunity to announce a new iPhone. (Maybe Palm has better sources than me and knows definitively whether the Pre will face immediate new-iPhone competition–or maybe not.)

All this leaves only one major question about the Pre–namely, how good is it? I’m looking forward to finding out…

Fooled You, Apple!

Wired.com’s Brian Chen has an interesting story up about the iPhone app Lyrics and the fact that it contains uncensored, profanity-laden lyrics that can be unlocked via a specific sequence of finger swipes. The author resorted to this tactic after Apple rejected his initial version of the app. I remain puzzled about Apple’s unwillingness to approve iPhone apps with dirty words given that it cheerfully sells the music downloads whose liberal use of cussing is documented by Lyrics’ secret uncensored version. But I’m also bemused as to why the app’s author snuck in the hidden-swear version. His subterfuge is revealed not only in Brian’s article, but also in the user reviews at the iTunes App Store; Apple can now delist the program if it chooses, and if history is any guide, it probably will.

Is the Palm Pre Showing Up on June 6th?

Until now, I’ve held off–sorry for this metaphor!–regurgitating the river of rumors about the release date for Palm’s Pre phone. For one thing, I’m far more interested in whether the Pre lives up to its considerable potential than the precise day on which it will be released. (This we know: Unless Palm unexpectedly blows its deadline, the Pre will ship some time between today and June 30th.) For another thing, Pre-related rumors are so unreliable that you’d think they were about an Apple product–if they were reliable, we’d have been able to buy the phone the day after Valentine’s Day.

But I’ve got to break down and say something at some point, and Engadget is reporting that an upcoming Sprint ad sets the release date as Saturday, June 6th. InfoSync is going further, stating that ads setting the date as June 6th are already appearing on the Web. (I haven’t seen any of these myself, but if they’re out there, they clinch it.)

If the Pre shows up for sale on June 6th, it’ll make its debut forty-eight hours before the keynote at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference, where chances are good-to-great that Apple will announce one or more new iPhones. Commenting on an earlier rumor that the Pre would arrive on June 7th, All Things Digital’s John Paczkowski said it would be “sheer lunacy” for Palm to release its phone with such a narrow window of glory before a new iPhone hogged the spotlight. I presume that John would deem it only slightly less nutty if the Pre showed up on the 6th. But I dunno: If there is a new iPhone at WWDC and Palm does get the Pre out the door by the end of June, the two phones are going to be competing for the world’s attention no matter what. It’s possible that being the most interesting new phone that isn’t the new iPhone would actually be healthy for the Pre’s PR campaign. And you know what? The Pre is the only upcoming phone I know of that stands a real chance of being more interesting than the new iPhone.

One way or another, I’m looking forward to getting my hands on the Pre. It makes for a sensational demo, and we won’t have to wait much longer before we learn just how it fares in the real world.

A Brief History of Google Killers

It’s the Web’s biggest straw man, and it keeps getting built up, torn down, then built up again. I speak of the idea that a startup is a potential Google killer–a notion that once meant that it promised to be a better search engine than Google, but has lately morphed into suggesting that a Web company of almost any sort could end up dominating the Web the way Google does today.

The phrase dates to at least 2001, and its usage consistently follows the same cycle: At first, pundits thoughtfully wonder if a promising new service might be a Google killer…and then, once it’s clear it’s an unlikely scenario, they cockily explain why it won’t come to pass. The latest example is going on right now, as the Web judges the new Wolfram|Alpha service. With the term ringing in my ears once again, I was moved to review fourteen examples of alleged Google killers, and to consider whether any of them are, in fact, likely to crush Google to death. My overall conclusion? If anyone compares your Internet startup to Google, it’s time to panic–it’s more of a curse than a compliment.

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iPhone 3.0 Draws Closer

Apple’s iPhone 3.0 operating system upgrade moved step closer to its release as the company began external testing of its push notification service today, according to Cnet.

Apple asked third-party application developers to test out the AP’s iPhone news app in an e-mail. The AP app is the first third-party program to incorporate push notifications on the iPhone platform–a long-promised feature that has been restricted to Apple’s own core applications.

Apple outlined push notifications in March at its press event in March. It had previously promised to deliver the feature in September 2008, but scuttled its plans when the notifications proved difficult to implement.

As an iPhone user, I am hoping that the testing goes smoothly and does not delay the iPhone 3.0 operating system’s expected release this summer. With the wide availability of advanced software testing and performance tools, it likely will, but as my mother used to say, “The proof is in the pudding.” I look forward to hearing reports about the AP app–and other push-enabled ones to come.

Advertising Works!

I still think that Microsoft’s current Laptop Hunters ad campaign for Windows represents an odd combination of stating the obvious (that you can buy a Windows PC with beefy components for a lot less than a Mac) and avoiding the obvious (that operating systems have a gigantic impact on the experience you get from a computer). But if recent research from BrandIndex is to believed, the spots are doing what Microsoft hoped they’d do: convincing people (young people, especially) that Windows computers are a better value than Macs.

Laptop Hunters doesn’t seem to be an ad campaign designed to run for the next decade, or even the next year–the individual commercials are nearly identical except for the shoppers involved, which is why I stopped writing about them after the third entry. (I just ran out out of things to say.) For the record, the most recent two (starring a mom-and-daughter team and an artist) are not only repetitive, but increasingly weird, with an emphasis on the giddy shoppers exulting in the fact that Microsoft has bought them laptops. (Should we make anything of the fact that only one of the five ads so far involves an adult male? I dunno.)

Considering that the current version of Windows is Windows Vista, Microsoft has every incentive to downplay the OS. I assume that when Windows 7 comes out, it’ll return to emphasizing the operating system as a selling point, even if it also continues to play up the value angle and snark at Macs. It’ll be interesting to see if the shift in public opinion apparently reflected in the BrandIndex study continues on even if the ads no longer center on spec comparisons and fistfuls of cash.

Is Napster Worth Five Bucks? Is it Worth Anything?

I’ve blogged before about subscription-based music services, an idea that the tech industry has poured millions into, and which rationally makes sense–but which has never caught on with teeming masses of consumers. Today, Napster–which is part of Best Buy these days–is trying again, with a new plan that offers unlimited streaming and five MP3 downloads a month–for $5. It’s not quite a return to the original Napster’s “pricing plan”–all the MP3s you could steal for $0 a month–but it’s a vast quantity of music for very little money.

Naspter’s closest competitor, Rhapsody, charges $12.99 a month for a similar streaming plan that doesn’t include the MP3 downloads; there’s a good chance, presmably, that it will be forced to match Napster’s price. (Both companies still charge a relatively-hefty $14.99 a month for plans that let you download unlimited music to an audio player or phone.) Apple, meanwhile, will likely continue to offer only pay-per-song downloads–and will continue to utterly dominate digital music.

I don’t know the economics behind Napster’s new pricing model, but perhaps Best Buy hopes that all those $5 subscribers will be more likely to do their buying of DRM-free downloads from Napster than from another online merchant. Or perhaps it’s just thinking about the day (coming soon!) when all those CD sections in Best Buy stores go away, and thinking that it’s worthwhile to maintain some relationship with music fans, profit or no profit.

Five bucks a month isn’t free, but it’s close enough that it pretty much removes the cost factor from the question of whether subscription music has any appeal to the masses or not. If you aren’t willing to plunk down $5, you most likely won’t be more interested at $4, $3, $2, or a buck. It’ll be fascinating to see if the new pricing makes a difference–as a lover of competition and low prices, I hope it does, but I make no predictions.

Me, I’m slightly embarrassed to admit that I’m still as likely to buy a CD as to download tracks. (Okay, not that embarrassed, but the time is coming when purchasing CDs will be as much of a nerdy affectation as collecting vinyl is today. I once subscribed to Napster but let my service lapse years ago; maybe now’s a good time to give it another chance.

Defend Your (Tech) Geek Age

Growing up, how did technology treat your generation? Did your maturation sync perfectly with the world’s technological advances, or did you arrive too late (or too early) for the best and biggest developments?

I’m stealing this idea from Raph Koster, designer of the classic PC game Ultima Online, who ponders whether his birth year of 1971 made for the perfect “geek age.” For example, he saw Star Wars in theaters 13 times, played pinball machines in real arcades and “got an 8-bit computer at exactly the age when boys get obsessive about details.”

Koster wrote that he feels sorry for people born 10 years earlier or later than he, but falling into the latter category, I disagree. While his points about comics, science fiction and Dungeons and Dragons are beyond the scope of Technologizer, I’m prepared to argue the merits of my birth year, 1983, as a great time to enter the world of technology and subsequently geek out:

• I was born early enough to learn a little DOS and appreciate why it became obsolete.
• Seeing Mario on a scrolling screen blew my mind. When he turned 3D, the magic hadn’t yet faded.
• I made friends in arcades by cooperating on games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and X-Men — our idols, by the way.
• At 10, Jurassic Park’s animatronic dinosaurs genuinely terrified me. At 16, I felt so cool sneaking into The Matrix.
• Peer-to-peer file-sharing, legal and otherwise, took off when I was in high school and college, the perfect age to inhale mass quantities of music.
• In college, I used AOL Instant Messenger to ping friends down the dormitory hall or across campus.
• By graduation, Facebook had taken off and staying in touch was made easy.
• Being 26 and computer-savvy has become more cool than geeky anyway. Not everyone is frightened to hear that I write about video games and tech for a living.

Now, let’s hear about your geek age. Was it better than mine or Raph Koster’s?

Wal-Mart Wants Your Used Games

If you need to unload some old video games and don’t care to interact with GameStop employees, consider machines as an alternative.

Wal-Mart is testing standalone buy back kiosks at 77 stores in New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, Video Business reports. The kiosks will scan the bar codes of used games and separately swallow the disc and casing in exchange for money transferred to a credit card.

The kiosks will also rent video games and DVDs, but the DVD rental function will be switched off in stores that already have a Redbox kiosk. Games and DVDs will cost $1 per night, and Blu-ray rentals will costs $2 for the first night and $1 per night after that.

As with GameStop and, more recently Amazon, the buy back price is a point of discontent. Wal-Mart’s kiosks will spit out the usual range of offers, from $25 for high-demand games to 50 cents for undesirables. Generally, you can expect used games at those trade-in prices to sell back for double. I’m surprised none of the competition wants to tinker with that formula and see how it affects market share.

It’s not clear what will happen to the used games. Instead of operating the kiosks directly, Wal-Mart is leasing space in the vestibule area, just outside the stores themselves, to a company called E-Play. That company has a “couple different methods” for resale, marketing VP and business development executive Kristen Fox told Gamasutra, but declined to be more specific.

Meanwhile, a writer for Neocrisis has already spotted one of the kiosks (seen above). It lacks Wal-Mart branding, except for the slogan “Save Money. Live Better.” Notably, Neocrisis reported some serious bugs in these early boxes. Most of the games offered didn’t scan, and the only one that did — the fairly high profile Mirror’s Edge — wasn’t in the kiosk’s database. The writer walked away without trading anything.

Maybe humans have some merit after all.

Cheaper iPhone Data Plans? Yes, Please!

I’m not sure if there’s a guiding principle at work with the evolution of pricing for mobile-phone data plans, but if there is, it sure isn’t Moore Law–the $30 I plunk down each month for unlimited data for my iPhone is 50 percent more than what I paid a few years ago with my first smartphone, a Treo 650. But BusinessWeek has published an encouraging report that AT&T is considering lowering the cost of iPhone data or introducing a $20 plan for something less than all-you-can eat access. Not surprisingly, the folks who have snapped up iPhones to date tend to be a pretty affluent bunch, and AT&T is worried that it may be running out of propserous customers to sell new phones to.

I hope very much that the carrier does chop prices–but that it does so by simply instituting a price cut for unlimited data rather than adding a cheaper, capped option. Smartphones are pocketable PCs, and using one with anything less than all-you-can eat data is like a trip back to the era when people paid for AOL by the hour and kept a nervous eyeball on the meter at all times. You gotta think that if AT&T reduces the cost of unlimited data, it can sell more than enough additional iPhones to end up making more money than it does today at current rates. It would be a boon for AT&T, for new customers, and for those of us who would be happy to renew our contracts at a lower rate. Come to think of it, it would also benefit customers of other carriers, since cheaper iPhones would require other providers to respond with price cuts.

Wal-Mart Beefing Up Electronics Departments

Wal-Mart is making a move to become a premier electronics destination and gain share in the wake of Circuit City’s demise. Beginning this week, the electronics departments in all 3,500+ stores will get a facelift.

Wal-Mart and Amazon seem to have been the biggest beneficiaries of Circuit City’s fall, splitting the company’s business rather evenly. Best Buy has not seemed to gain much at all, even though it was expected to by analysts.

Displays will be roomier, and top brands will get their own distinct sections. The moves are a continuation of Wal-Mart electronics expansion, this time apparently aimed at making the department more sophisticated.

One thing that will make computer manufacturers happy is a new laptop section where consumers will be able to try out the products. Many were not happy with Wal-Mart’s strategy of keeping them locked away to prevent shoplifting: this would bring them more in line with what other electronics retailers do.

The recession has definitely helped out the retailer: consumers that normally would not shop there have turned to Wal-Mart in search of better deals. Company executives see this, and are making an honest effort to step up their game to keep these new shoppers when the economy improves.

Changes in consumer behavior is also being noticed by the manufacturers themselves: Wal-Mart is now able to compete for first runs of new products, whereas before they weren’t even considered.

(Hat tip: Wall Street Journal)

5News for May 18th, 2009

How’s your Monday so far?

Napster launches a $5 service.

What’s with the oldest Twitterer?

Iomega updates external hard drives.

Microsoft patents the magic wand.

Windows 7′s virtual Wi-Fi adapters.

Walmart ramps up electronics sections.

Firefox 3.5 due in June.

Trying to buy Verizon’s MiFi,

RealDVD headed for legal oblivion?

Google News: Down Again

Last Thursday, a bunch of Google services went down for about an hour, and the company said that the glitch was due to a traffic jam

caused when it had to route a lot of traffic through Asia. It said it would work hard to prevent it from happening again. But over on Twitter, lots of folks are reporting that Google News is unavailable–here’s what I saw when I tried to get in:

In recent months it certainly seems like the reliability of Google services has been patchy. But I’m still not sure whether it’s been struggling, or it’s simply that A) Google offers more major services than anyone else; B) many of them are indispensable; C) as the most important Web company, it’s under the biggest magnifying glass.

(Postscript: Google News is back up. At least for me, at least right now.)

Wolfram|Alpha: This Could Be the Start of Something Big

Back in March, Radar Networks CEO Nova Spivack blogged about Wolfram|Alpha, a new Web service from Mathematica creator Stephen Wolfram, and said it could be as important as Google. Nova’s a smart guy, but it was reasonable to greet his enthusiasm with skepticism–new stuff gets favorably compared to Google all the time, and often turns out to be massively disappointing. But Wolfram|Alpha is now live–albeit in a preview mode that’s struggling to keep up with the sudden influx of users–and Nova’s assessment turned out to be cool and collected. The service is a work in progress, but it’s the most interesting new research tool since Wikipedia–and yes, it’s not unreasonable to discuss it in the same breath as Google.

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Microsoft’s Handheld Entertainment Intentions, xYzposed!

As if two rumored Microsoft handhelds weren’t enough, the latest chatter from Redmond holds that the company is designing a new “digital entertainment handheld” to take on Apple’s iPod Touch and Sony’s PSP.

The news comes from Team Xbox’s César A. Berardini, who says he waited months to corroborate and clear his report with sources in Redmond and Santa Clara. One source referred to the device as “xYz,” alluding to a hybrid of the Xbox and Zune, but said the actual name hadn’t been decided on, to the source’s knowledge.

Before we go any further, let’s get all the Microsoft handheld device rumors out on the table. We know that Microsoft is working on a Zune HD, complete with a touch screen and due in the fall. There’s also talk of an iPhone rival, codenamed “Pink,” that involves collaboration with Verizon. This third device seems to fit in the former category simply because it’s entertainment-related, but Berardini writes that newly reported Pink specs “coincide with the scoop I got.” This suggests in a roundabout way that Pink and this gaming device are one and the same.

Except for one thing: One source said the device doesn’t have and “doesn’t need” access to a phone network. Berardini was also explicitly told that the device is not a “Zune Phone.” He speculates that the device will include WiMax, but who knows.

As for other hardware, the “xYz” reportedly has a WVGA touch screen and “features not found on any handheld on the market,” one source says, but the real kicker is in the software. The story says this device will blur the lines between the Zune, Xbox Live and the “Sky” market — supposedly the code name for a cloud-based mobile App store that Microsoft also hasn’t announced yet. It’ll also apparently compete with Google by integrating Live Search services.

Also interesting is the idea of content that’s transferable between each device, including video games. That’s where I get excited.

There’s obviously a technical disparity between handhelds and home consoles, but the simpler games found on Xbox Live Arcade — Braid and Marble Blast Ultra, for example, or classic ports such as Doom and Sonic the Hedgehog — could easily coexist on both platforms. That idea hasn’t been done since the Sega Nomad, a portable Genesis console that was ahead of its time.

The article gives off a vibe that this is all part of a carefully-planned strategy to pull several of Microsoft’s entertainment services under one umbrella. As an Xbox 360 owner, I see the potential in adding a handheld to the mix, but as always, execution is crucial. So now, we wait and see.

(Oh, and before you get too up in arms, please know that the image above is pure fakery.)