Word Processing Circa 1968

If you’re as fascinated by the prehistory of personal computing as I am, the early issues of Computerworld at Google News are hugely entertaining. They date from a time before there were such things as personal computers, but there are hints of what was to come everywhere in their pages. I wrote about a 1968 story on a 75-pound pseudolaptop recently. And after the jump, I’m reprinting a story from the November 13th, 1968 issue on Astrotype, an extremely early multi-user word-processing system with 4KB of memory which stored documents on magnetic tape. Its creators said that by permitting the correction of text documents, it would be a boon to…would-be secretaries whose typing was too lousy for them to find work. Little did they know that word processing wouldn’t help more people become secretaries, but would instead dramatically thin the secretarial herds in corporate America over the next four decades…

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World of Warcraft, The Magazine: What an Idea!

You know a video game is popular when it spawns its own magazine.

Such is the case with World of Warcraft: The Magazine, debuting this weekend at the BlizzCon gaming convention in Anaheim, Calif. The quarterly publication has the blessing of publisher Blizzard, and it’ll be run by former Official Xbox Magazine Senior Editor Dan Amrich. Instead of being ad-supported, the magazine will subsist on straight sales, with $39.95 getting you a yearly subscription.

Ars Technica’s Ben Kuchera has a pretty good rundown of the reasons and roadblocks for the magazine, including the token “print is dead” disclaimer. But I actually think World of Warcraft: The Magazine has a decent chance of surviving.

It’s at least got a better shot than than another upcoming pring gaming mag, Electronic Gaming Monthly. If you missed that news, EGM will relaunch under new ownership after shuttering last January. While both magazines will ride on the strength of their respective brands, World of Warcraft: The Magazine has a distinct, dedicated audience, while the general gaming crowd sought by EGM is pretty fickle. We’re likely to go anywhere for our information, provided that it’s accurate and timely. Print magazines try to argue that they provide deeper commentary and perspective, but there’s plenty of that online as well.

WoW: The Magazine’s strategy is a classic one: Fill the niche market. It’s doing the same thing as platform-specific gaming mags, like Official Xbox Magazine, but it’s even more targeted. If the magazine can nail down the interviews, profiles and insight that’s being promised, it’s got a solid product no one else has.

Indeed, Wow: The Magazine will face the same struggles as other print publications, but WoW fans could use a reason to take their eyes off the screen anyhow, and this way they don’t even have to disengage with the game.

FastPencil: Self-Publishing, Web Style

Self publishing is an American tradition with a long, distinguished history that’s been immeasurably improved in recent years by two technical breakthroughs: the Web (which reduces the cost of distribution to almost nothing) and print-on-demand services (which permit the printing of professional-looking books in small quantities at reasonable prices). And FastPencil, which launched last month and added some new features this week, is an ambitious and interesting service (though an imperfect one) that takes advantage of both developments.

Web-based self-publishing services aren’t new–other contenders include Lulu and Blurb. But Lulu’s for folks who are comfortable designing a book in a page layout program and uploading the results as a PDF, and Blurb involves a downloadable application that lets you produce glossy photo books. FastPencil turns the whole process of writing, editing, and publishing a book into an online service, emphasizes text-centric books (although they can include photos, too) and aims for simplicity, collaboration, and affordability. It’s meant for everyone from folks who want to create a handful of books for a family event to those who think they have the great American novel in them and would like to sell it online.

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Share School Gadget Thoughts, Win a 500GB Drive

Quick reminder: We’re still collecting your reflections on gadget you used (or use) for schoolwork, and the ones you wish you had (or have).  Share your thoughts by 5pm PT tomorrow and you might win a nifty 500GB Seagate FreeAgent Go portable hard drive.

Read what folks have said so far and enter here.

More on Smartphones vs. Dumbphones

I already wrote this morning about NPD’s new research showing that only 28 percent of new phones sold are smartphones–and here I am talking about the news on Randall Bennett’s TechVi, along with PCMag.com’s Jeremy Kaplan:

You Don’t Have a Smartphone Yet? You’ve Got Lots of Company

Smartphones such as the iPhone, Palm Pre, and various BlackBerries are responsible for about 98% of all phone-related news, and if you live in a tech haven like the Bay Area, it’s easy to slip into the assumption that everyone has one. But a new survey from retail experts the NPD Group says that 28 percent of phones sold in the U.S. in the second quarter were smartphones. That’s up 47 percent over last year, but it still means that 72 percent of phones sold weren’t smartphones. They were the more basic (but increasingly powerful) phones known in the industry by a name that makes me gnash my teeth: “feature phones.”

All of which leaves me curious how many of you are still using a reasonably traditional phone, and how many have smartphones. (There’s no really good definition of what smartphones are–NPD says they’re ones “sold with their own operating systems”–but I’m going to say that they’re phones that allow the installation of third-party apps, and which usually have either a physical QWERTY keyboard or a touchscreen.)

Here’s a special two-part T-Poll:

Polaroid Cameras Are Back! Briefly!

I never expected to write as much about Polaroid cameras as I have at Technologizer, but the little guys continue to make more news than some gadgets which are still in production. Dazed Digital is reporting that the Polaroid preservers at The Impossible Project have saved 700 old-stock One600 cameras and will be selling them, along with film, through Urban Outfitters stores, starting tomorrow. (Urban Outfitters’ outlets may be primarily devoted to funky clothing and household knickknacks, but they’ve developed an entertaining sideline selling exotic, retro film cameras such as the Diana, making them a more logical venue for Polaroid sales than a real camera store–they already sell Fuji’s modern instant camera.)

Urban Outfitters will also have some additional old-stock Polaroid film on hand, but if you buy a One600 you’re buying into a format that’s already defunct. (The Impossible Project is trying to restart production of instant film–I wish them luck, but they named themselves appropriately.) Despite that, I’m tempted to pick one up tomorrow. No word on how much they’ll go for.

5Words for Thursday, August 20th 2009

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Apple and Palm hiring spat.

Kevin Mitnick needs new ISP.

Snow Leopard arrives. Then leaves.

The Posterous iPhone app: disappointing.

PayPal users notice fee changes.

Polaroid comes back, sort of.

Windows 7: free for four months.

Yahoo to Firefox users: switch!

What if the Beatles Never Go Digital?

Forget the tablet. Ditto for the $800 MacBook. The greatest Apple vaporware of all time may be digital download versions of the Beatles catalog. I’ve lost track of how many Apple events I’ve attended that were preceded by the scuttlebutt that Steve Jobs would tell us that Apple had inked a deal with Apple Corp to put the Fab Four on iTunes. I’ve sat in auditoriums thick with the anticipation that they end would end with that happy news and a surprise appearance by Paul and/or Ringo.

Now the rumors are bubbling up again, based on the rumor (not yet confirmed by Apple) that new iPods will roll out on September 9th–the same day that a couple of new Beatles box sets and the Beatles Rock Band game hit store shelves. But 9 to 5 Mac is wondering just what Apple Corps. means by a statement in a recent press release:

Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalog will continue. There is no further information available at this time.

That might mean that the Beatles aren’t arriving on iTunes (or any other digital music venue) in a few weeks. Then again, it leaves copious wiggle room–maybe the discussions that are continuing involve the imminent digital release of said catalog.

I’m not exactly rooting for iPod-toting fans of the lads to be disappointed yet again on September 9th. But I wouldn’t be shattered if the words “John,” “Paul,” “George,” and “Ringo” weren’t spoken by anyone at the still-theoretical Apple event, either. Or any future Apple events, come to think of it. Building an Apple tablet is a job best left to professionals, and making a homemade $800 MacBook would likely involve more than $800 in parts. Creating a high-quality digital version of any Beatles album, however, can be done by anyone with a CD and a computer with an optical drive in minutes. Beatles fans can put the songs on their iPods; the Beatles get their money; we all get to continue the tradition of wondering about an official digital deal. If the Beatles did hit iTunes, we’d all have to switch to speculating about Garth Brooks, and it just wouldn’t be the same…

Microsoft Upgrades Windows (Live) Movie Maker

Movie Maker–the Microsoft movie-editing application that the company has yanked out of Windows 7 and bundled into the suite known as Windows Live Essentials–is out in a new version today. LiveSide.net details the changes, which are plentiful. Microsoft also has a Movie Maker site up with even more info (which, incidentally, requires Silverlight).

When Microsoft announced it was removing Movie Maker, Windows Photo Gallery, and Windows Mail from the OS last September, I thought it was a great idea, even though the name “Windows Live Essentials” continues to confuse me. (Windows Live is Microsoft’s name for Web-based services with at least a tangential relationship to the OS–except when it decides to apply it to downloadable traditional software such as Movie Maker.) Bundling applications with Windows was ninety percent downside: They tended to fester, rarely showed much ambition,  and were basically uncompetitive with the best apps from other companies. (Worst-case scenario: Windows Paint, which has changed remarkably little in almost a quarter of a century…although the Windows 7 version does get a new interface.)  I haven’t tried the new Movie Maker yet, but I’m glad to see that it’s on its own upgrade regimen–and hey, it even beat Windows 7 to the market. (The new version works with Windows Vista and 7, but not XP.)

Here’s a screenshot:

Yes, Sony, You Are Competing With the iPhone

Sony continues to insist that it’s not competing with the iPhone on gaming, even though the opposite is increasingly becoming true.

Tucked into Sony’s impressively newsworthy GamesCom press conference yesterday was an announcement for “PSP Minis,” a line of low-price, small-scale video games aimed at the upcoming PSP Go handheld. The list of planned games, including Air Hockey, Bowling and Pac-Man Championship Edition, sound a lot like what you’d find in the iPhone’s App Store.

This is a major about-face for Sony. In March, the company’s marketing VP Peter Dille derided the iPhone as a “separate business” that hosts “largely diversionary” games. He further explained that Sony is a gaming company that makes handheld games with 20-hour experiences. I guess Sony realized there’s also room for cheap and simple.

Still, the company won’t admit that it’s taking Apple on with PSP Minis. Here’s Gamasutra’s Leigh Alexander on follow-up with Playstation Network operations director Eric Lempel, who says Sony isn’t after Apple’s market share.

“It’s totally different,” Lempel told Gamasutra. “… It’s not open to users; these are professional developers, it’s not like what you’re seeing on that other platform.”

Someone needs to remind Sony’s handlers that “competition” doesn’t mean “approaching the market in the exact same way, warts and all.” This should be an opportunity for Sony to say “Yes, we are competing with Apple for handheld gamers’ money, and here’s how we’re going to take it.” Instead, Lempel seems unwilling to confront the truth head-on.

Health Care Reform becomes Comedic Gold on Twitter

The U.S. debate over President Obama’s health care reform proposals has taken a humorous turn on Twitter today.

Tweets making light of some of the more outlandish claims that are being made by the President’s political opponents have become trending topics: Under Obamacare and #Obamacarefacts. Here’s a sampling of some of the wittier remarks.

Report: BlackBerries to Bundle Flash and Silverlight

The Boy Genius Report says that it is “pretty much confirmed” that Research In Motion will integrate full Flash and Silverlight run time support into its BlackBerry Web browser. If true, that would be a significant step in the transformation of smart phones into functional mini computers.

Flash and Silverlight are not just about games and streaming videos; the run times power Rich Internet Applications (RIAs). Adobe is promoting Flash to be used as a front end for business applications, and Microsoft is positioning Silverlight for business apps.

At SD Times, I have covered component makers that are releasing Silverlight controls (data grids, charts, UI controls) for line of business applications. After all, Silverlight is a subset of the .NET Framework, which is used for business applications.

With HTML 5, Web applications will become even more common, because it will have a built-in application container. Other techniques such as AJAX will also enable Web applications to run within a phone’s browser. (Nokia is betting that standard AJAX Web applications will become popular across its entire portfolio of S60 devices.)

Supporting Flash and Silverlight, assuming it happens, will bring a greater variety of applications to BlackBerry devices. Developers will be able to run their applications on Blackberries using the skills that they have today –without having to learn any specialized RIM technologies. That’s the way it should be; skills should be portable.

By embracing Flash and Silverlight, RIM would break out of the walled garden that smartphones have existed in, making itself more attractive and accessible to application makers. Consumers will win by being able to do more with their devices.

Video Ads to Appear in Print

CBS will be the first company to advertise in video in a print magazine, the company said on Wednesday. While it may sound ludicrous, the videos would actually play on a videochip supplied by Los Angeles-based Americhip, which would be able to hold about 40 minutes of video.

The September 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly would contain the ad, however not in all issues. Only issues of the magazine sent to subscribers in the Los Angeles and New York City markets would receive the special ad: other subscribers and the newsstand copy would carry a version of the ad without the video chip.

CBS is partnering with Pepsi, which would advertise its Pepsi Max soda alongside the network’s prime time lineup on Mondays. It is not clear how much the two companies are spending on the ads, as that was not disclosed.

I have to say this is an innovative way to advertise, and turns the idea of print on its head. Will this be what saves “print?” Time will tell. The technology is probably still prohibitively expensive (thus the highly targeted reach of the video-enabled ad), so it will probably be awhile before this type of print advertising goes mainstream.

But you have to give credit to CBS for at least being innovative.

5Words for Wednesday, August 19th 2009

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Can Twitter control “Tweet?” Nope!

Om on Microsoft’s mobile “strategy.”

BlackBerrys getting Flash and Silverlight?

Cheapo Windows 7 for Brits?

San Francisco opens its data up.

YouTube getting Time Warner clips.

A media player that projects?

Canon’s cool, compact S90 camera.

Archos’s Android tablet: almost official.

What’s the Future of Windows Mobile?

DigiTimes–the Taiwan-based news site whose scoops are always right except when they’re very, very wrong–has a story up today about Microsoft’s plans for its Windows Mobile phone OS. It says that that the company will formally announce Windows Mobile 6.5 on October 1st (hey, didn’t that already happen?), will add a new version with a better touch interface in February of next year, and will keep version 6.5 on the market at a low price even after it releases Windows Mobile 7.0 in the fourth quarter of next year.

It sounds complicated, but it also sounds plausible given how much catch-up Microsoft has to play to get back in the phone OS game. (It’s kind of staggering that it doesn’t plan to have Windows Mobile 7, its first full-blown iPhone OS rival, ready until around three and a half years after the first iPhone appeared.)

Anyhow, as a follow-up to yesterday’s BlackBerry T-Poll, let’s do one about Windows Mobile: