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[URL="http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=136847"]Ad Age reports[/URL] that Microsoft is ready to spend $80M to try and turn people's attention away from Google, the dominant search market leader, and toward Bing, Microsoft's latest search engine offering. Much like Microsoft's attempts last summer to prop up Vista, trying to turn consumers to a new product …

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I attended two seemingly unrelated events things this week: I saw the new [URL="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0796366/"]Star Trek movie[/URL] and I attended the [URL="http://www.mitcio.com/index.php"]MIT CIO Conference[/URL] in Cambridge. At the conference, Tom Malone, who is the Director of the [URL="http://cci.mit.edu/"]MIT Center for Collective Intelligence[/URL] (think about how much they must have just on …

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According to multiple sources, the Palm Pre is set to launch on June 6th, which happens to be the 65th anniversary of [URL="http://www.army.mil/d-day/"]D-Day invasion[/URL]. I guess we can call this the Pre-Day invasion. Instead of storming the beaches of Normandy to take on Nazi Germany, Palm will be taking on …

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I've never been a big fan of American Idol or reality TV in general, but the tit for tat going on between Microsoft and Apple ads reminds me a bit of a reality TV competition with bloggers acting as Simon and Paula and the gang. We watch. Sometimes we laugh. …

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I was watching an ad the other day for Panasonic where it showed people watching YouTube on a big flat screen TV in the living room. Yet most people don't watch content from the web on TV, probably because it still takes a technical leap that's simply too difficult for …

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This coming Monday, May 11th, marks the start of the first annual [URL="http://news.opensuse.org/2009/05/07/get-ready-for-opensuse-community-week/"]openSUSE Community Week[/URL], an event conceived of by openSUSE community members to help mentor folks who want to get involved with the openSUSE open source Linux project, but don't know how to get started. The virtual conference will …

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[URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-1023_3-10234622-93.html"]Ms. Mayer went to Washington[/URL] the other day to defend Google against recent attacks that it is responsible for the ongoing problems of newspapers. Marissa Mayer, who is the Vice President, Search Products and User Experience at Google testified before a Senate sub-committee on '[URL="http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Hearings.Hearing&Hearing_ID=7f8df1a5-5504-4f4c-ba34-ba3dc3955c61"]The Future of Journalism[/URL].' Not surprisingly …

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The App Store is a beautiful idea that is [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4149.html"]wildly successfu[/URL]l, but Apple has a big App Store problem. They are trying to control the content in the Apps and they really, really need to just get out of the way and let the market judge the quality of an …

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Last week we heard about the first Android-powered Netbook (which I wrote about in [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4290.html"]First Android Netbook Nothing to Write Home About[/URL]). Then on Friday, analyst [URL="http://gartenblog.net/"]Michael Gartenberg[/URL], who is VP of Strategy at Interpret, and who writes frequently about consumer technology sent the following Tweet: [I]Is Android's future in …

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Ken, This sounds awesome. I love my new HP Mini, all except for the fact it's running Windows. I'm downloading this immediately and trying it. Sounds well worth the $20. Thanks for taking the time to be the guinea pig on this. Can't wait to try it.

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Word emerged this week that Apple was in talks with Verizon and everyone assumed it was it about the iPhone, but buried at the end of a BusinessWeek article, [URL="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/apr2009/tc20090429_594307.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech"]AT&T's iPhone Dilemma[/URL], is an interesting nugget: [QUOTE]Apple has also shown Verizon a larger, more computer-like device dubbed by one person …

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The Android is about to take the leap from the cell phone to the netbook, and much like the first Android-powered cell phone, the first iteration is a bit of head-shaker. Instead of a dazzling showcase, it's underpowered and small, and although it has some interesting qualities, cost is going …

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On Friday, a 13 year old named Connor Mulcahey from Weston, Connecticut had the distinct honor of [URL="http://www.apple.com/itunes/billion-app-countdown/"]downloading the one billionth app[/URL] from the iPhone App Store. In order to honor this occasion, I decided to list my five favorite iPhone apps. Just a word before I do: I'm not …

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The quarterly numbers are in the books for Google, Apple and Microsoft , and while Apple and Google made money, Microsoft failed to report a profit for the first time in 23 years as a public company. [B]Crazy Times, Crazy Results[/B] It seems unfathomable that Apple continued to do well …

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Apple came out with its earnings report yesterday, and while all wasn't rosy for the Cupertino technology company, bottom line is they made money as earnings increased an impressive an impressive 8.7 percent in year over year earnings with net profits up 15 percent (as reported in [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/blog/2009/apr/22/apple-quarter-results"]the Guardian[/URL]). All …

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A California Senate candidate is using a Don Henley song in a campaign video on YouTube, and when Henley sued for copyright violation, the candidate fired back that it was his first amendment rights to use the song. It seems he failed to understand the nuances of the Digital Millennium …

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I've been fascinated by the recent series of Microsoft ads that go after Apple. On one hand I commended Microsoft for having a unified message in [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4186.html"]Microsoft Gives Apple the Full Court Press[/URL]. On the other, I think the message is off kilter as I wrote in [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4212.html"]Apple's Value is …

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I opened up Google Reader this morning and found major rumors from our favorite corporate rivals Apple and Microsoft. For Apple it is the oft cited iTablet. For Microsoft, it's a supposed iPod Touch clone. I try not to give too much credence to rumors (as I wrote in [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3626.html"]It's …

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It's with more than idle curiosity that I've watched the recent [URL="http://news.cnet.com/microsofts-lauren-ad-follow-up-disses-mac-power/?tag=rtcol;pop"]Microsoft ads[/URL] that attack Apple, subtly suggesting that it's too expensive and that it's all glitz with no real computing power. There is so much wrong with these assertions that it's hard to know where to begin. There is …

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In his keynote last Wednesday at AIIM, Andrew Lippman from MIT's Media Lab pointed out that not that long ago we went to work then we went home and watched TV and the two worlds never collided, but toda social networking tools and mobile devices are blurring the lines between …

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[I]Video killed the radio star. Pictures came and broke your heart. ~Buggles, Video Killed the Radio Star[/I] It turns out the old song was wrong. Video didn't kill the radio star and the internet didn't kill the newspaper industry. It was a failure to embrace new technology, to believe they …

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Microsoft has been active lately, showing some signs of spunk. I reported last week that Steve Ballmer was going straight after Apple at the McGraw Hill Summit (as I wrote in [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry4155.html"]Ballmer Wastes No Words Going After Apple[/URL]). This week we see the release of an [URL="http://byronmiller.typepad.com/byronmiller/2009/03/new-microsoft-ad-goes-after-high-price-of-apple.html"]ad campaign comparing Apple …

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Not as though it's ever going to happen, but suppose I were at a party one night and [URL="http://www.businessweek.com/it100/2005/executive/GOOG.htm"]Eric Schmidt[/URL], CEO of Google happened to be there. I would love to corner him and get him a glass of wine or scotch or whatever it is that CEOs at large …

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I was a bit surprised to open my [URL="http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-ballmer-apple-is-too-expensive-for-this-economy-and-thats-why-msft-will/"]PaidContent.org newsletter[/URL] this morning and find that Steve Ballmer was taking direct aim at Apple in pointed comments at the McGraw Hill Summit yesterday. Ballmer went straight for the jugular calling Apple too expensive for today's economy, perhaps because Apple's computer sales …

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For the better part of this decade Apple has created some amazing products from the Mac Book to the iPod to the iPhone. They've had an enormous technological and cultural impact, but even with all of these accomplishments, the meteoric rise of the App store is simply astonishing. They went …

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On Saturday afternoon during a weekend visit to New York City, we were walking back to the hotel when we spied a place called the [URL="http://www.spy34.com"]Spy Shops[/URL]. Think Q in James Bond and that's what you'll find here. A gadget lover's paradise, all designed for snooping. Naturally I had to …

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Lots of news from Apple this week. There is of course [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/12/technology/personaltech/12pogue-email.html?em"]the new Shuffle[/URL] which has the web abuzz with chatter because the controls are on the headphones and not the device (stupid design doomed to fail) and there is the standard [URL="http://feeds.arstechnica.com/~r/arstechnica/index/~3/G-8Z2A_yWvk/another-patent-hints-at-mac-tablet.ars"]Mac Tablet[/URL] rumor (Yawn; call me when they …

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When Google released Chrome last Fall, I wrote that it represented a [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/blogs/entry3092.html"]direct attack on Microsoft and Apple[/URL]. This week, my colleague [URL="http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=334716"]Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols writes in ComputerWorld[/URL] that Android could be coming to a Netbook near you by the end of this year. If this reports turns out to …

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[I]And I know I'm not the only one To ever spend my life sitting playing future games ~Fleetwood Mac, Future Games.[/I] When Microsoft released [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/SURFACE/Default.aspx"]Microsoft Surface[/URL] in 2007, it was easy to dismiss it, a PC the size of a table that cost $10,000. While everyone else was designing smaller …

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I recently had a conversation with [URL="http://www.coda.com/about/management-team?KeyPlayer_ID=13"]Jeremy Roche[/URL], who is CEO at [URL="http://www.coda.com/"]CODA[/URL], a high-end accounting software solutions vendor with more than 30 years in the business. Roche told me how his company began on the HP 3000, then moved to the DEC VAX, client/server and all the way to …

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I would say that these changes, however you see them, were decided upon long before Jobs took his leave of absence. Apple may or may not get the current market (although that remains to be seen), but these decisions are made months in advance. By the way, for what it's …

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Seems every time I write a piece suggesting open source as an option, I get a couple of comments warning readers about the scary complexities of open source licenses. So I decided to ask a guy who knows free and open source (FOSS) exactly what the deal was regarding FOSS …

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[I]This is the mystery of the quotient - Upon us all a little rain must fall. ~Led Zeppelin, The Rain Song. [/I] It's been quite a couple of weeks for Google. First there was the mistake that caused the entire Internet to be [URL="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/31/google-flags-whole-internet-as-malware/"]flagged as malware[/URL]. Next came the great …

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I have an Asus Eee running Linux and it's a very good machine. The whole idea with a net book is that you use it mostly to access the internet. If you are using internet-based apps with it, then the underlying OS doesn't matter. I'm not sure why people would …

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Hi Lisa: Great post. I'm the first person to get on Microsoft when they screw up, but when you look at the overall program, yes there is probably an ulterior motive there, but ultimately they seem to be trying to be good corporate citizens. Sure, they could have made the …

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The great Gmail outage, which as far as I can tell lasted a couple of hours over night in the US has prompted some nasty articles such as this one from [URL="http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/02/24/trouble-in-the-clouds-gmail-turns-into-gfail/"]TechCrunch[/URL] where they derisively refer to Gmail as Gfail. Let's grow up, people. Software fails all the time and …

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You have to give Microsoft credit. They keep trying, even if what they are trying is copying Apple. This time they have announced they are going to open retail stores. Sound familiar? It should because it's what Apple has done so successfully with its Apple Store strategy. The problem Microsoft …

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I've never made it a secret that I'm a big fan of Apple products. I love my Mac Book Pro and my iPhone, but I have to say that Apple has been pissing me off lately. The company has decided to throw its legal weight around to protect its market …

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When Facebook changed its [URL="http://consumerist.com/5150175/facebooks-new-terms-of-service-we-can-do-anything-we-want-with-your-content-forever"]terms of service[/URL] on Monday, it caused an immediate uproar, and when people screamed loudly enough, Facebook backed down. What this shows me is that although Facebook is a free service, it exists and is successful because we make it so. The millions of people who …

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I'm thinking it's more about video than stills, and you will be able to take amazing high-quality video with this camera. And I do believe that people will be using cell phones for much more than make calls and sending text messages (although that's obviously Job 1). I have an …

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[I]Hans plays with Lotte, Lotte plays with Jane Jane plays with Willi, Willi is happy again ~Games Without Frontiers, Peter Gabriel. [/I] I'm forever fascinated with the gamesmanship that goes on between Google, Apple, and Microsoft. You expect them to undercut each other at every turn, to do whatever it …

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Microsoft is readying a new cloud service called [URL="http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/myphone/myphone.aspx"]My Phone[/URL] that enables users of Windows Mobile 6 or later to sync contacts, calendar appointments, photos, and other information with the My Phone web site. According to an [URL="http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2009/02/06/microsofts-skybox-site-live-branded-my-phone/"]Engadget report[/URL] on Friday, Microsoft will officially launch the service at the[URL="http://www.mobileworldcongress.com/"] Mobile …

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I've been very interested to see which Android phones will follow the G1,which wasn't terribly impressive as a debut. As more Android phones enter the market, it should be interesting to see if they gain traction or not. As for iPhone rumors, when it comes to Apple, there's always lots …

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Since Palm introduced its [URL="http://usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/cars-trucks/daily-news/090109-CES-2009-Palm-Introduces-Smartphone-with-GPS/"]new smart phone[/URL] at CES last month, the buzz has been deafening and for that alone, Palm deserves a lot of credit. Let's face it, they were up until that moment, a company on life support, but with one smoothly-presented product announcement they were on the …

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[URL="http://www.webinknow"]David Meerman Scott[/URL] (who is also a fellow contributing editor at [URL="http://www.econtentmag.com"]EContent Magazine[/URL]) is an expert in social networking and using the internet as a marketing tool and speaks frequently on the subject. His best selling book, [URL="http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/books.htm"]The New Rules of Marketing and PR[/URL] was published in 2007 and was …

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I came up with an idea this week: What if Microsoft made Windows open source? Before you accuse of me of link baiting, I believe this idea has merit for several reasons. It will reduce the cost of development, put the power of the community behind supporting what's become an …

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Last week Apple and Microsoft released their fourth quarter MP3 player sales figures, which Apple chooses to call its first quarter for some odd reason, and the numbers were a startling contrast. On one hand you had Microsoft with a 54 percent drop off in sales from the fourth quarter …

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There are number of factors coming together that lead me to believe that open source's moment is right now, today, this year. Open source already runs so many things and just last week as Barack Obama was elected the 44th president of the United States, he asked Scott McNealy of …

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For the last 10 years Google has been on an upward trajectory making gobs of money and astounding us all with there seemingly endless fount of innovation. For a time, there seemed to be a new product announcement every week. Google has always been very savvy about exploiting the news …

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There has been a lot of chatter this week about the health of Steve Jobs. On one level, it's a perfectly understandable discussion. Jobs is a public figure and as such what happens to him--good or bad--interests us. But a friend of mine suggested that any discussion of Jobs' health …

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The End.