Archive | March, 2011
Samsung’s Fake Real People Remind Me of Microsoft’s Real Fake People
AppleInsider’s Daniel Eran Dilger has posted a follow-up to my story of Samsung’s “true-life” Galaxy Tab fans who happen to be actors. To put things in perspective, he mentions Lauren, the star of a 2009 Microsoft “real person” ad who also had acting experience. (To be fair to Microsoft, the same ad campaign included other ads with non-thespian real people.) He also goes way back to a 2002 item on Microsoft’s site that seemed to be a true-life story of a Mac user being lured to Windows XP, but was really done by a freelance writer and illustrated with a stock photo.
But my favorite you-can’t-be-serious example of Microsoft marketing–and one which reminds me of the vibe of Samsung’s video–is the 2009 video explaining how to hold a Windows 7 launch party at your home. I don’t think Microsoft intended anyone to believe that its Windows 7 fans were anything but paid performers, but I’m pretty sure that Samsung’s Joan Hess and Joe Kolinski live the same planned community as these people…
Samsung’s Fake Galaxy Tab Interviews: Hey, Those Words Sound Familiar!
26. March 2011
When I watched the video interviews with three “true-life” Galaxy Tab users that Samsung showed at its CTIA event, I was observant enough to figure out (with the help of about six minutes of Google research) that two of the users were actors and the other one works for a film-production company that counts Samsung among its clients. But I didn’t notice or detail every oddity about them. Folks who are discussing my story on all this, both in the comments and elsewhere on the Web, are having fun pointing out other curious things about the interviews, such as the fact that “leading New York real-estate CEO Joseph Kolinski” raves about the 8.9″ Galaxy Tab even though the only 8.9″ Tabs that Samsung itself had on hand at CTIA were non-working models.
Swoopo Quietly Files for Bankruptcy
25. March 2011
The site that put the concept of pay-per-bid auctions on the map is now apparently in financial trouble, Technologizer has learned. Although the company’s front page claims “technical issues,” documents from a Munich, Germany bankruptcy court indicate its parent company — Shopping Entertainment AG — filed for bankruptcy protection on Wednesday.
The company is asking for protections from its debtors, and it has named a liquidator to start divesting its assets.
I’ve done a little bit of research across the Web and it seems as if some Swoopo users have been waiting for their items for quite a while, and the site has been down for about a week now. But at least we’re finding out why: Swoopo’s run out of gas — not at all surprising since its business model is built on the willingness of bidders to lose money on lost auctions. If you don’t win, you still paid for every bid you made.
Android Apps on the PlayBook: This Doesn’t Change Everything!
25. March 2011
Yesterday, BlackBerry maker RIM confirmed what sounded at first like a wild rumor: Its PlayBook tablet, coming on April 19th, will run Android apps even though it’s not an Android tablet per se. Apps written for Android 2.3 Gingerbread will be another PlayBook option along with native programs written for RIM’s new QNX-based tablet OS and ones built in Adobe AIR.
As usual with RIM execs, co-CEO Jim Balsillie explained the news in a way that was, um, a bit twisty. (Balsillie and fellow co-CEO Mike Lazaridis have a manner of spelling out their company’s strategies that reminds me of a Choose Your Own Adventure book.) But if I understand Balsillie correctly, he’s saying that the Android compatibility isn’t there as a primary source of apps. People are going to want to run software that’s been designed to take advantage of the PlayBook’s hardware. The large quantities of Gingerbread apps–what he calls “tonnage”–are there in case anyone’s worried that there won’t be enough PlayBook apps, or the right apps for every purpose.
That sounds reasonable enough to me. But it also sounds like it’ll be a distinctly minor aspect of the PlayBook’s, well, playbook.
Let the Netflix Backlash Begin
25. March 2011
Netflix suffered a couple setbacks this week at the hands of Showtime and Starz. According to the Los Angeles Times, Showtime will no longer provide old seasons of “Dexter” and “Californication” for streaming, and Starz will delay streaming episodes of its new series “Camelot” by 90 days. Starz may also withhold movies from Netflix streaming in the future, the LA Times reports.
We’ve been hearing for a while that Hollywood is afraid of Netflix. For $8 per month, the service provides a huge library of on demand movies and TV shows, and has the potential to pull people away from existing revenue streams, such as DVD, video on demand and, in the case of Showtime and Starz, premium subscription television.
But as far as I know, that fear hasn’t produced any tangible effect on Netflix’s streaming service until now. With Showtime and Starz retracting content, we’re seeing the first signs of a Netflix streaming backlash.
Hey, They’re All Just Screens
25. March 2011
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately thinking about the post-PC era. After Steve Jobs repeatedly described the iPad and other Apple products as post-PC devices at this month’s iPad 2 launch, I decided that the post-PC era is already well underway–and that it’s less about the PC going away and more about it being joined by a bevy of other gizmos, from phones to tablets to car-dashboard gadgetry. In other words, the PC is being replaced not by something but by everything. I wrote about that in this TIME.com column.
But after I finished that piece, I kept thinking about the whole subject. And I decided that the PC is, in some respects, going to be replaced by one thing, in a variety of versions.
Time Warner, Networks Face Off Over Tablet App
25. March 2011
Time Warner Cable is standing its ground in an increasingly bitter fight over its rights to transmit TV networks carried over its television service as it sees fit. The issue here is the company’s iPad app, which would all but turn the tablet into another TV capable of showing live programming.
This has the television networks in a tizzy, claiming that their contracts with the cable provider do not give it the right to essentially stream its content. About 32 cable channels are provided through the service, including MTV, HGTV, Discovery, and others.
Central to Time Warner’s argument is that the networks’ signals aren’t being just blindly transmitted over the open internet where anyone could attempt to snoop — the 21st Century equivalent of stealing your neighbor’s cable. Instead, it says the signals would be transmitted over its own “secure network.”
An iPad Smart Cover Made Out Of…Wood
25. March 2011
I was intrigued by the debut of the iPad 2 Smart Cover, Apple’s solution for the bulk of problems that traditional cases cause. Well it was only a matter of time before another company would attempt to mimic what Apple designers have done here, and the first company to do so is Holland-based Miniot.
The company is known for its wooden cases for the iPhone and iPod. Its next target is the iPad 2. The cover is made out of a single piece of wood, and operates much the same as Apple’s Smart Cover does, acting as both a screen protector and stand. Magnets hold the case to the tablet perfectly just like Apple’s does. However, instead of folding, the Miniot Cover rolls much like a wooden blind would.
Here’s a video from the company describing its case:
Surprisingly enough, you won’t pay any more for this case than you would for Apple’s leather version: it is set to sell shortly through the company beginning at 50 euros ($69 USD). The company says that it will be available in several different types of wood, however it hasn’t specified which types.
If I wasn’t so in love with the orange Smart Cover, I probably would have picked one of these up for my iPad 2 when I finally get it next month.
Is Samsung’s New Galaxy Tab Fibbing About Its Figure? And About Those Galaxy Tab Fans…
25. March 2011
At CTIA Wireless earlier this week, Samsung announced a new 10.1″ Galaxy Tab tablet–one with specs that made it thinner and lighter than the iPad 2, with the same starting price of $499. After the press event, I scurried over to the Samsung booth in hopes of getting some hands-on time with the new Tab.
When I got there, I found that the 10.1″ Tabs out on tables were the older, relatively portly version announced last month at Mobile World Congress. The new 10.1-incher (and its 8.9″ sibling) were inside glass cases, and they weren’t powered on. I also discovered that my friend Fritz Nelson of InformationWeek had beat me to the booth–and he told me that he was trying to get Samsung to give him a Tab he could hold and judge.
Spammers Like “Use Facebook as Page”
25. March 2011
Do you “like” things on Facebook? Spammers like things, too, and they’re using Facebook’s “Like” function to put their obnoxious schemes and shameless missives everywhere.
Facebook assumed they were doing Facebook Page administrators a favor when they added the option to “Use Facebook as Page.” This meant that customized Facebook pages could Like, post, and comment around the site just as regular profile users do.
It didn’t take long for spammers to realizes by using their page as a profile and “Liking” others’ pages, they could spread their message and elude the Facebook police.
Shopping for Bargains on the Internet
25. March 2011
Do you have a cheapskate gene, one that yearns for a wholesale price? I do and can’t bear to pay more for something if I can find the exact same thing for less money.
That’s this week’s topic: The sites I regularly visit with daily bargain-priced products, those with coupon codes for discounts or free shipping, and the tools to make bargain hunting easier.
The Technologizer Googlecount for March 2011
25. March 2011
Time for an occasional new Technologizer feature. For no other reason except that it’s fun, let’s look at the world–and especially the tech world–as reflected in the results for various Google searches. With apologies, as always, to Harper’s Index, here’s the Technologizer Googlecount.
Google a Target of Antitrust Inquiries From Three States
24. March 2011
Is Google about to head down the same path that Microsoft took more than a decade ago? It could be. Bloomberg is reporting that sources with the Ohio and Wisconsin governments indicate that the first steps have been taken to investigate whether an antitrust inquiry is necessary. Authorities in Texas–the first state to launch antitrust action against Microsoft 14 years ago–are also questioning the search-engine giant.
In Texas, the question is whether or not Google is manipulating search results to benefit its own properties. Wisconsin’s questions surround its efforts to purchase ITA Software, which produces software for the airline and travel industries. The article did not say what Ohio officials might be looking at.
Color’s First Fifteen Hours: It’s Revolutionary! It’s Pointless! It’s Brilliant! It’s Terrible!
24. March 2011
I don’t like writing about stuff I haven’t tried. Plenty of products that look swell in demos to tech journalists don’t work very well. Sometimes, in fact, they don’t work at all. So I sometimes pass on covering new gadgets, apps, and services until I can spend time with them–even as other sites are expressing opinions based largely on having the items in question described to them in glowing terms by tech execs.
Yesterday, however, I wrote about Color, a new smartphone app that automatically shares photos and videos with people near you. I thought it was a nifty idea. It comes from a company cofounded by Bill Nguyen, whose previous startup Lala was definitely a nifty idea. And I did get to fool around a bit with the app during a demonstration in a real-word setting–a restaurant, which is the sort of place that Color is supposed to be fun and useful. That’s a major step beyond just having it explained via PowerPoint.
Once More for Old Time’s Sake, Duke Nukem Forever Delayed
24. March 2011
I’m still kind of hoping Duke Nukem Forever never gets released, but that’s not going to happen.
However, the first-person shooter will relive its vaporware days one last time, with 2K Games announcing what it calls the “shortest delay in the history of Duke Nukem Forever.” Once scheduled for May 3, the game has been pushed back to June 10 internationally and June 14 in North America.
The folks at 2K are taking it in stride. “We thank Duke’s fans for their continued patience – I promise this won’t take another 15 years,” 2K Games President Christoph Hartmann said in a statement.
Your Take on This AT&T-T-Mobile Thing
24. March 2011
I spent the last few days at the CTIA Wireless show in Orlando, and the big news at the show wasn’t big news from the show. It was, of course, the proposed merger of AT&T and T-Mobile US. Everyone at the conference seemed to still be processing it in their minds–and I decided to ask my friends over at Twitter (where I’m @harrymccracken) for their takes as of right now.
What are your thoughts on the prospect of AT&T and T-Mobile merging? (I might quote you on Technologizer.)—
Harry McCracken (@harrymccracken) March 24, 2011
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