Topics by Techwriter10

AT&T [URL="http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20006534-1.html"]announced new data plans today[/URL] dramatically reducing the amount of network bandwidth access that AT&T customers will have in the future. Currently, iPhone customers have an unlimited data plan for $30. Under the new plan, you get: [LIST] [*]200 MB for $15 per month [*]2 GB for $25 per …

[ATTACH=right]15150[/ATTACH]Google went after Apple in a big way at [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story285274.html"]Google I/O[/URL] last week and I've been seeing a lot comments suggesting that Google has now surpassed Apple technologically. First of all, I don't think you can dismiss Apple's market power that easily. Secondly, Google made some announcements, which doesn't equal …

The[URL="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703298004574459380459235704.html?mod=rss_Today%27s_Most_Popular"] Wall Street Journal reported[/URL] yesterday that Dell plans to build its own cell phone running Google's Android operating system, and release it some time next year. It's worth noting that Dell has tried to get into the gadget business before. They made a couple of failed stabs at the …

A week ago today, the unthinkable happened. That's right, Gmail went down...for *two* hours. You would have thought, judging from the amount of chatter on Twitter that we were experiencing an epic attack, a horrible natural disaster, perhaps the end of life as we know it; but it was none …

There was a lot of pushing and shoving going on this week among the biggest players in technology. Google had its [URL="http://code.google.com/events/io/2010/"]I/O conference[/URL] and introduced several products and services aimed squarely at Apple, but that wasn't enough for them. Oh no, they had to rub Steve Jobs' nose in what …

[I]Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future... Steve Miller, Fly Like an Eagle[/I] [ATTACH=RIGHT]15151[/ATTACH]I've been carrying around that title all week. It came to me on Sunday morning, and it involves the idea of how automatically we record and broadcast our lives in the digital age. One of …

I'm a huge fan of the president. I loved how his campaign used social media to help drive him to victory in 2008. I think he's generally a smart, well-informed and extremely articulate man, but today he said something incredibly stupid about the iPad and I have to say something. …

[ATTACH=right]14831[/ATTACH]Two days ago, the Dow Jones Industrialized Average [URL="http://www.montrealgazette.com/business/probing+point+dive/3001581/story.html"]plunged almost 1000 points in a half hour[/URL]. That's almost 10 percent of the entire value of the market in 30 minutes. That's insane! What happened? Well, it turns out, it was a fairly simple technological trigger that caused the problem. Seems …

[ATTACH=right]14692[/ATTACH]Apple's feeling pretty good about itself lately and why shouldn't it? It sold [URL="http://www.tuaw.com/2010/05/03/apple-sells-one-millionth-ipad/"]a million iPads[/URL] in the first month. That means iPad sales reached a million units twice as fast as the original iPhone. The revenue spigot remains wide open and I'm sure investors are happy, but Apple has …

[ATTACH=right]14585[/ATTACH]Google took an interesting step this week when it [URL="http://googlenexusoneboard.blogspot.com/2010/04/update-on-nexus-one-partnerships.html"]announced on its Nexus One blog[/URL] that customers who want to use the Verizon network might be more interested in the [URL="http://phones.verizonwireless.com/htc/incredible/"]HTC Droid Incredible[/URL] instead of its own Nexus One. I've never hidden my disdain for the Google Nexus One strategy …

In quick succession, HP and Microsoft reportedly killed off two iPad wannabes this week. With HP's purchase of Palm and its WebOS, it meant that [URL="http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/29/hewlett-packard-to-kill-windows-7-tablet-project/"]the Windows 7 tablet[/URL] that Steve Ballmer showed off at CES in January (and which you can see here in [URL="http://byronmiller.typepad.com/byronmiller/2010/04/hp-video-shows-ipad-wannabe-teaser.html"]this video[/URL]) is suddenly shelfware. …

[ATTACH=right]14667[/ATTACH]I've often discussed in this space, [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story255079.html"]the ongoing battle[/URL] among the technology titans--that constant struggle to find the missing link to control the computing world. This week, HP made its move when [URL="http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/28/hp-buys-palm/"]it purchased Palm for $1.2 billion[/URL]. On first blush, it looks like an incredibly stupid step, overpaying for …

[ATTACH=right]14446[/ATTACH]The iPad hasn't been out three weeks and already we are hearing reports that [URL="http://www.csmonitor.com/Innovation/Horizons/2010/0412/Google-Android-tablet-rumored-to-be-around-the-corner"]Google[/URL], [URL="http://byronmiller.typepad.com/byronmiller/2010/04/hp-video-shows-ipad-wannabe-teaser.html"]HP[/URL], [URL="http://www.pcworld.com/article/194431/will_dell_supersize_its_mini_tablet.html"]Dell[/URL] and [URL="http://byronmiller.typepad.com/byronmiller/2010/03/engadget-movie-shows-off-possible-microsoft-digital-journal.html"]Microsoft[/URL] are planning tablet computers of their own. Much like touch phones, these devices are not likely to be created equal and it got me thinking what these companies must do to …

[ATTACH=right]14341[/ATTACH]There has been a lot of talk the past couple of days about[URL="http://techcrunch.com/2010/04/08/apple-announces-iad-mobile-advertising-platform/"] Apple's new ad network[/URL]. The way it will work is that ads will live within the closed environment of the App Store apps. This supposedly means that that Apple will fully vet each ad it allows in …

[ATTACH=right]14321[/ATTACH][URL="http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2010/04/08iphoneos.html"]Apple released details of iPhone OS 4.0 [/URL]today, but let owners of older versions of the phone know that they wouldn't be invited to the party. Unfortunately, according to Apple, owners of first and second generation iPhones (and iPod Touches for that matter) don't have the processing power to handle …

[ATTACH=right]14257[/ATTACH]Rumor has it Microsoft will be jumping into the mobile phone market later this month. Much like Google's foray into mobile phones with the Nexus One, I think it's a horrible idea for Microsoft to sell phones, but according to this [URL="http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/2010/04/05/microsoft-reportedly-to-unveil-new-mobile-phone-line-april-12/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+barrons/techtraderdaily/feed+(BARRONS.com+Blog:+Tech+Trader+Daily)"]story in Barron's[/URL], that's exactly what they intend to …

[ATTACH=right]14244[/ATTACH]The iPad hit the streets yesterday and reports have rolled in from bloggers, reporters and users. For the most part people seem very pleased with their new devices, but there have been some problems (as you would expect with any electronic device on its first day). Contrary to reports (including …

Probably just about everyone over 25 remembers the game and show '[URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Sandiego"]Where in the World is Carmen San Diego?[/URL]' If San Diego were around today (maybe she is, who knows), we would all know exactly where she was because she would broadcast her whereabouts by tying her FourSquare account to …

[ATTACH=right]14218[/ATTACH]I was having a conversation with my editor today and he brought up an interesting point about the iPad launch tomorrow. The personnel who are supposed to know the iPad cold, have to be able sell it, service it and train new customers on how to use it; have yet …

The other day I was writing a [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/reviews/review271593.html"]review of an online backup product[/URL], and I wrote about the advantages of backing up to the cloud. Even though I have two external backup drives, they are both tied to the same electrical system in my house as my computer. If the …

[ATTACH=right]14158[/ATTACH]I love my iPhone. It's a cool device with lots of free and low-cost apps at my finger tips, but I've been wondering lately if some of these Apps are a good thing. I mean, why do I need a dedicated New York Times app, for example? Why doesn't the …

[ATTACH=right]14127[/ATTACH] [I]We can be Heroes For ever and ever What d'you say ~David Bowie, Heroes [/I] Yesterday afternoon I read with some surprise that [URL="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/24/AR2010032401543.html"]domain registrar Go Daddy was following Google out of China[/URL]. It seems they had had quite enough of the Chinese government's restrictions, and like Google, decided …

Say what you will about Apple, love 'em or hate 'em, you have to admit they have a special magic when it comes to creating gadgets that consumers clamor for. They have a unique mix of design, build-up and marketing that when combined drive popularity and sales in huge numbers. …

It's not exactly news that the relationship between Google and China has soured over the last month or two and it looks as though [URL="http://www.macworld.com/article/147096/2010/03/china_google.html?lsrc=rss_main"]Google may quit China soon[/URL] leaving the vastly lucrative Chinese market to Microsoft and others. What's not clear is what the implications will be for the …

Last night during the Oscars, Apple debuted [URL="http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/10/03/07/apple_posts_surprise_ad_for_ipad_during_the_oscars.html"]its first iPad commercial[/URL]. Steve Jobs was even at the awards ceremony and [URL="http://www.tipb.com/2010/03/07/steve-jobs-oscars-red-carpet/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+TheIphoneBlog+(The+iPhone+Blog)&utm_content=Google+Reader"]reportedly walked the Red Carpet[/URL]. The iPad is due out the first of next month and many folks have already announced plans to run out and buy one the second …

[I]The band is just fantastic, that is really what I think. Oh by the way, which one's Pink? ~Pink Floyd, Have a Cigar[/I] In the classic rock tale, the young, talented musicians are exploited by one of two entities: the unscrupulous manager or the greedy record company. This week Pink …

Google does a lot of things well, maybe too well, and it's adding to its portfolio of tools on a weekly basis. At some point you have to look at the number of pies in which Google has its fingers and start to get a little frightened of this company. …

Steve Ballmer, [URL="http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/mar/03/microsoft-bing"]speaking[/URL] at the [URL="http://searchmarketingexpo.com/"]Search Engine Marketing Expo[/URL] this week, credited Google with being the first company to get internet search done right. Google certainly wasn't the [URL="http://searchenginewatch.com/2175241"]first internet search engine[/URL]. Yahoo!, InfoSeek, Excite and Alta Vista to name but a few, came along long before Google emerged in …

I was driving down the highway the other day, and it ocurred to me that Facebook sucks. No, really it does. Sure, it lets us connect with friends and we all put up with it, but think about just how bad it is. [LIST] The security features are hard to …

The other night my son had a homework assignment asking me how technology had changed since I was a child. I started rattling off the the devices and technologies we take for granted today that didn't exist back then. Sounding like my parents talking about the old days, I told …

When you are dealing with a populations as large as China's, even when you take into consideration that three quarters of the population doesn't have internet access, you are still talking about a very large number of those who do. So it's no surprise that Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! want …

Google Buzz was not a great moment in the history of Google. It seemed to bring to the surface a lot of lingering bad feelings that people have been having about Google for some time. The botched Buzz release only made it worse, confirming people's worst fears that Google didn't …

I realized last week that somehow inexplicably, Microsoft has become the underdog. Want proof? The US Justice Department *and* the EU approved the search deal with Yahoo! That the United States approved the deal is not really news because Justice has rarely met a deal it didn't like no matter …

[URL="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/techchron/detail?entry_id=57438&o"]Someone sued Google[/URL] the other day for violating her privacy with the original implementation of Google Buzz. You see, when you first opened Google Buzz last week, Google looked at the people you most frequently email or chat with and used that list of people to seed your followers list. …

A couple of weeks ago, I had the great pleasure of seeing [URL="http://stevegarfield.com"]Steve Garfield[/URL] speak at [URL="http://podcamp.pbworks.com/PodCampWesternMass"]Pod Camp Western Mass[/URL]. Garfield is the author of [URL="http://offonatangent.blogspot.com/2010/01/where-to-buy-get-seen.html"]Get Seen[/URL], a practical book on the ins and outs of web video production. He has been working with video on the web since well …

As I make my way around the internet today, I'm not finding a lot of love for Google Buzz. In fact, people have been downright hostile to it, from what I can figure. Here are some Tweets from my knowledgeable friends: * @[URL="http://twitter.com/theskypirate"]theskypirate[/URL]: I tried Buzz for a day, was …

Buried in all the Google Buzz hype today was a[URL="http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/10/google-fiber-optic-network-home/"] little story on TechCrunch[/URL] that Google is planning to offer [I]1 gigabit-per-second[/I], super-duper, high-speed fiber-optic cable in up to 50,000 homes in the US shortly. This is more significant to me than Google taking on Facebook. Think about this for …

Google is reportedly coming out with a [URL="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/google_creating_twitter_clone_for_gmail.php"]Twitter-like tool[/URL] this week. Google's tried social a few times, but it hasn't done very well. Why are people so excited about it this time? It's important to remember that everything Google touches doesn't turn to gold. Sometimes they screw up. Sometimes they …

The day that Google announced its Nexus One retail strategy, [URL="http://www.daniweb.com/news/story250839.html"]I wrote a post[/URL] pulling no punches that I thought it was a horrible idea. If [URL="http://www.tuaw.com/2010/01/14/nexus-one-sells-only-20-000-phones-its-first-week/"]first week sales figures[/URL] are any indication, I am being proven right. What's more, Google appears to be cannibalizing their own ad space to …

Word came out this past weekend that Steve Jobs held a Town Meeting with his employees after the iPad party. Among the topics were Adobe and the Nexus One, which apparently both have Jobs more than a little riled. [URL="http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/01/googles-dont-be-evil-mantra-is-bullshit-adobe-is-lazy-apples-steve-jobs/"]According to a Wired article[/URL], he had this to say about …

When Google developed the Nexus One, they might not have figured on one huge unintended consequence. They [URL="http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/01/googles-dont-be-evil-mantra-is-bullshit-adobe-is-lazy-apples-steve-jobs/#ixzz0eaEaTQsI"]pissed off Steve Jobs[/URL] big time. "We didn't get into the search business," he reportedly barked, at a Town Hall style meeting, following the iPad announcement last weekend. "They got in the phone …

Amazon didn't waste a lot of time answering the challenge of the iPad. The [URL="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/04/technology/04amazon.html"]New York Times is reporting[/URL] this morning that Amazon has acquired Touchco, a touch screen company, and plans to incorporate its engineers into the Kindle division. It doesn't take a PhD in analysis to figure out …

We seem to have reached one of those pivotal moments that come along every so often where the big three--Google, Microsoft and Apple-are fighting particularly hard to gain a dominant position. Of course, this is a constant battle, but for some reason it feels more acute to me lately. Maybe …

According to[URL="http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/jan2010/tc20100119_759795.htm"] various reports[/URL], Apple has approached Microsoft about making Bing the default search engine on the iPhone. I'm sure it's all enough to make Steve Ballmer come out from behind his desk and do a happy dance. His little search engine that could is being portrayed as the anti-Google, …

A little over a year ago Barack Obama surged to victory using social media to drive his energized base to the polls. Tonight in Massachusetts, Republican Scott Brown turned the tables and used those same tools to help defeat Democrat Martha Coakley and win the Senate seat held by Ted …

In a [URL="http://www.businessweek.com/print/magazine/content/10_04/b4164028483414.htm"]very interesting read[/URL] in BusinessWeek last week, writer Peter Burrows describes what he sees as the start of war between Apple and Google with the big prize being the Mobile Ad market. Burrows further speculates that it's possible this could escalate to the point where Apple will make …

It's always exciting to hear about new technology like the tablet, and the idea of a new Apple tablet is one that sets us all aglow. But while we wait seemingly endlessly for Apple to come through (or not) with its long-rumored product, other manufacturers are flirting with the same …

Office 2010 awaits us later this year, and I've been wondering what it could possibly offer customers that would compel us to buy or upgrade to this software. Office software in general progressed about as far as most of us needed it to go somewhere in the 90s. Since then …

Yesterday ReadWriteWeb reported that Facebook CEO Mark [URL="http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/facebooks_zuckerberg_says_the_age_of_privacy_is_ov.php?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:%20readwriteweb%20%28ReadWriteWeb%29"]Zuckerberg told TechCrunch's Michael Arrington[/URL] people are not only OK with publicly exposing certain information on the open web such as their pictures and pages they subscribe to, Zuckerberg believes they are ready to give up privacy. [B]Really Mark?![/B] Amy Pohler and Seth …

Google announced the long awaited [URL="http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2010/01/google_releases_its_nexus_one.html"]Nexus One[/URL] today, but the phone itself was only part of the story. Google has decided to distribute the phone exclusively through its own [URL="http://www.google.com/phone"]web store[/URL], a misguided strategy I think will ultimately backfire on them. Frankly, I think it's a mistake for the company …