Archive | April, 2011
Saying Apple Will Never Do Something: Always Dangerous
For years, there’s been a persistent, as-yet-unrealized rumor that Apple will start making HDTVs. Received wisdom, however, has generally argued that it’s not going to happen. TVs are too commoditized; TVs would have to come in too many sizes; TVs are too off message for Apple. Marco Arment, the smart guy who invented Instapaper, just made the case against an Apple HDTV.
Then again, another smart guy, Chris Dixon, warns against assuming that Apple isn’t going to make HDTVs just because the current market doesn’t look Apple-esque at all. He also tweeted an intriguing thought, which I learned about from MG Siegler, who also thinks that an Apple HDTV isn’t unthinkable:
it would be interesting to go back and read the arguments about why Apple won't release a phone. eg carrier market power etc.—
chris dixon (@cdixon) April 16, 2011
Good idea!
RIM Counters PlayBook Criticism with Splashy Press Event
16. April 2011
In the midst of so-so critical reception to its soon-to-be-launched PlayBook tablet, RIM tried turning on some magic this week. At a lavish New York City press event, the newly-minted tablet maker showed off the PlayBook’s sleek good looks, along with some of the 2,000 to 3,000 apps set for availability when the gadget hits retail stores next Tuesday.
In fact, RIM’s App World will ultimately contain about 100 times that number of apps for PlayBooks, said RIM reps stationed along an “App Wall” that took up around one-eighth the floor space of the event venue.
Catching Up With the Guy Who Invented the Cell Phone
16. April 2011
My friend Lance Ulanoff of PCMag.com has a nice interview up with Marty Cooper, who invented the cell phone 38 years ago. Cooper may be living history, but he’s also very much up to date on where his creation is going. He carries a Verizon Thunderbolt 4G phone, and he doesn’t like the idea of the AT&T-T-Mobile merger one bit…
Are Tablets Too Fancy and Expensive?
16. April 2011
Hardware maker Hannspree is best known–in the United States, at least–for idiosyncratic products such as TV sets shaped like fruit and zoo animals. But it makes some more straightforward stuff, too, including Android tablets. So far, its tablets, which aren’t sold in the US, have run Android 2.2–a fact that I instinctively want to squawk about, since that aging smartphone OS was never designed for large-screen devices. But I’m attending the IFA Global Press Conference in Spain, a preview event for September’s IFA consumer electronics megaevent in Berlin, and a Hannspree executive explained in an unusually straightforward and illuminating fashion why it’s using an old version of Android.
Why Google Doesn’t Want The iPhone To Die
15. April 2011
Us journalists and bloggers like to make a lot of the battle between Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS, but it the search engine has a vested interest in seeing the platform succeed. Why? iPhones and iPads are simply sending the site a ton of traffic.
Says Asia-Pacific president Daniel Alegre to AdNews:
“Whenever iPhone succeeds, Google succeeds. I actually don’t look at it as iPhone versus Android. iPhone is a very strong driver of query growth for Google. We also monetise apps through the iPhone..we actually benefit from iPhone’s growth.”
Makes sense. In total the iOS ecosystem is getting increasingly larger, and if you group the iPad and iPhone together, is more than holding its own against the Android platform. Simply put, pissing off Apple is not in Google’s best interest no matter how much they’d like to see their mobile OS be #1.
Google has said previously that the iPhone has been a key driver of growth in its mobile search efforts. So it shouldn’t be surprising that at least publicly executives like Alegre are making such statements. Then again, if all those iPhone users pick up a Droid — the only other really dominant mobile platform — is Google really losing anyway?
LightSquared: A New Player in 4G?
15. April 2011
In a time where we seem to be increasingly concerned with the state of wireless competition, a new player may be emerging hoping to shake up the space. LightSquared hopes to make its mark by selling 4G broadband to companies looking to add wireless connectivity to their products and is poised to begin a nationwide rollout., PC World’s Paul Kapustka reports.
The company certainly has the backing necessary: investment from billionaire Philip Falcone and its own spectrum. However, it needs partners and is rumored to be in talks with Sprint Nextel over a tower sharing deal. Service could begin as soon as the end of 2011, and Best Buy will resell its service beginning sometime next year.
Google’s iTunes Competitor Might Be In Trouble
15. April 2011
Google’s plans to take on Apple’s dominance in digital music may be hitting a snag. AllThingsDigital’s Peter Kafka is reporting that discussions with music labels have “stalled,” apparently over the Mountain View, Calif. company’s desires to change some of its terms.
Kafka said that talks may have gone “backwards,” and Google could be reconsidering its plans. At the same time, Kafka wrote that he had also heard earlier from those in the music industry that talks were going well, so there seems to be a bit of confusion as to actually what is going on here.
Valve’s Portal 2 ARG Culminates in Shrewd Business
15. April 2011
For the last few days, the buzz among gaming blogs and Twitter was that Valve might release its mind-warping puzzle game Portal 2 on Friday, instead of Tuesday as scheduled. The speculation was sparked by an alternate reality game, which invited players to decipher images for clues of what would happen next.
As with most ARGs that are tied to marketing campaigns, participation is superfluous. Eventually all hands are shown either way, and so today we have a website that lays out the meaning behind the garbled messages: Yes, Valve will release Portal 2 earlier than expected, but only if people buy a $39 bundle of play any of 13 indie games from a bundle known as The Potato Sack.
TiVo Prepping Four-Tuner HD DVR?
15. April 2011
The new TiVo Advisors survey is far more interesting than most, spelling out a number of “potential products and features.” On the hardware front, two very specific devices are described:
- A companion device for your DVR. It allows a second TV (in another room) to watch live TV (in HD) and also watch the recordings from your DVR.
- A 4-tuner high-definition DVR that allows you to record up to 4 shows at one time (and watch a 5th show that is previously recorded).
mSpot Movies Wants to Undercut Netflix
15. April 2011
Netflix may be an unstoppable force in the streaming video business, but it’s not without weaknesses. The service’s selection of on-demand movies doesn’t compare to its mail-order DVD catalog, and if you want new releases, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
That’s why services like mSpot Movies are trying to get a piece of the action. Although mSpot Movies isn’t new, the service is now slashing prices in hopes of landing on consumers’ radars.
mSpot rents standalone streaming movies for the same $3.99 as other on-demand services, but the main draw is a “club” package that charges a flat rate per month in exchange for credits, which can be redeemed for on demand movies. Starting at $5 per month for 20 credits, good for up to four movies, the basic service is now half as expensive as it used to be. There’s also an $8 option for 40 credits, and a $16 option for 80 credits. Throw in the promise of new and recent releases, and mSpot seems like a decent deal.
But there are caveats.
Cius Sees Light
15. April 2011
When Cisco announced its business-oriented Cius tablet last June, it looked like one of the more interesting upcoming tablets. It’s had a low profile since, at least compared to RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook. But now Cisco says it’s beginning to ship Ciuses to customers.
Four Technological Holy Grails
15. April 2011
If you could somehow transport me as I was fifteen years ago to 2011, the old me would be flabbergasted by how much technology improved in so little time. In fact, I’m pretty sure that if you showed 1996 Harry an iPad, I’d insist that it was either a hoax or witchcraft.
But if 1996 Harry stuck around in 2011 for a while and used modern tech products, I’d also be surprised by some things that haven’t changed. Annoying things. Annoying things that I would have assumed would have been fixed long before the second decade of the new millennium rolled around.
Blackberry Playbook Reviews and the Premature OS
14. April 2011
Tech critics are saying plenty of nice things about Research in Motion’s Blackberry Playbook, but nearly all the reviews end the same way: Don’t buy it.
The conclusion was predictable. Out of the box, the Playbook lacks native e-mail and calendar apps unless you’ve got a Blackberry phone nearby. There are hardly any third-party apps, and Android app support isn’t coming until the summer. In addition to missing features, some critics had problems with Adobe Flash (big surprise there), and others ran out of memory after running more than a few tasks at once.
But most reviews also note that software updates came in at a rapid pace, and many of the Playbook’s missing features will arrive in a matter of months.
Therein lies a problem with the tablet reviews of today: they all describe a product that may be quite different tomorrow.
Wii 2 May Debut At E3
14. April 2011
Well, this might explain this week’s rumored Wii price cut: Both Game Informer and IGN cite unnamed sources who say Nintendo will reveal a Wii successor at this year’s E3 trade show in June.
Neither story provides much detail. IGN’s Jim Reilly writes that the new Nintendo console is “significantly more powerful” than Sony’s Playstation 3 and Microsoft’s Xbox 360, and will be backwards-compatible with the Wii. Game Informer’s Matthew Kato says he’s heard conflicting reports on whether the console will match its rivals on performance, and can’t confirm backwards compatibility.
Both journalists agree that the console will support high definition gaming, and that Nintendo is showing off the console to publishers in preparation for a 2012 launch, although IGN also says there will be a “pre-announcement” this month.
Personalized Magazines: Neat!
14. April 2011
My new Technologizer column on TIME.com is a look at personalized-magazine apps, including Flipboard, Taptu, and Zite for the iPad, and Genieo, which does somewhat similar things on Windows PCs and Macs…
Airbnb Goes Into the Fast-Growing Rent-a-Country Business
14. April 2011
At last month’s South by Southwest Interactive conference, two of the companies I met apply a similar concept to different businesses. Aibnb lets real people rent vacation accommodations to other real people by the night–a sort of specialized Craiglist with a whole lot more quality control to help ensure that neither renter nor rentee gets ripped off. And Liquidspace has an iPhone app that allows nomadic businesspeople (like me!) to rent a conference room or a desk on the fly, either at a hotel or business center or at a company that simply has more space than it needs.
I haven’t tried either service for myself yet, but I’m intrigued by the idea and the possibility of applying it not only to beds and conference rooms but to just about anything. (I’m not the only one who’s intrigued, apparently: Googling for “the airbnb of” leads to a bunch of other startups, such as Tutorspree (tutoring) and Uber (car service, recently covered here by Ed).
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17. April 2011
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