Google's poor social score
Google co-founder Sergey Brin at the company's New York office in 2008
Just after Google (GOOG) co-founder Sergey Brin and his team unveiled Google Buzz, the company’s new Gmail feature that brings in Twitter-like social updates, a discerning audience member asked Brin why Google’s social efforts to date have failed. Brin denied this, and then hedged, explaining, “Past services have focused on friends and entertainment.” This one, he explained, also enhances productivity.
Like many of the services Google has launched, Buzz is technically magnificent and could be disruptive if users embrace it. It will have five key features: You can follow the people you email and chat with. You can share content like YouTube videos, photos, and newspaper articles. You can update your status both publicly and privately. You can get social updates in your inbox. And Google will use an algorithm to recommend popular content.
Cybercrime, the next generation
The popular platforms of today are bound to be the targets of tomorrow
By Kevin Prince, chief technology officer, Perimeter E-Security and Doug Howard, former chief strategy officer
(The following is adapted from the forthcoming book, Security 2020, scheduled to be published later this year.)
The social networking (think Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, MySpace) phenomenon is only going to grow. And anytime there is a system, program, or process used by millions of people, criminals look for ways to exploit it.
There have already been worms, scams, viruses, and malware targeting social-networking platforms and their users. In addition, companies have shifted from paper records to electronically stored information. This is especially true within the healthcare industry, and other industries have had similar initiatives the past few years. While these companies are getting more efficient, digitization has opened up new doors for cyber criminals to exploit. As a result, companies will see a huge upswing in the number of data breaches. We predict massive healthcare, financial and retail breaches and fraud.
We also foresee major attacks against networks that control infrastructure and utilities around the world. Some may target mobile phone towers and communications. Others may aim for emergency service communication. Still others might mark hospitals and other critical care facilities. More
Apple Store back up. No new Macs.
Apple watchers were hoping for a bigger pre-Macworld announcement
Image: Apple.com
[UPDATE: The Apple Store is back up with a new version of Aperture but no new MacBooks. Apple's press release introducing Aperture 3, the latest version of its high end photo editing and management software, crossed the wires at 8:30 a.m. ET. ]
The yellow "We'll be back soon" sign — the universal signal of an impending product release — appeared Tuesday morning on Apple's (AAPL) online stores around the world.
Speculation, echoed in a thousand tweets, centered on the MacBook Pro, which is overdue for an upgrade. According to MacRumors' Buyers Guide, the product hasn't been refreshed for 246 days. (On average it's been getting an upgrade every 200 days.)
On Monday, Silicon Alley Insider passed along a report in a French blog that Apple was set to announce new MacBook Pros on Tuesday to coincide with opening day of Macworld Expo 2010 in San Francisco.
For more than a decade Apple was the centerpiece of the annual trade show, kicking off the expo with a Steve Jobs keynote and dominating the floor with a huge display of products. In late 2008 the company announced that Macworld 2009 would be its last.
See also:
- Five things to watch for at Macworld
- Behind Steve Jobs' Macworld exit
- Why investors are better off without Macworld
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]
Apple grabs 25% of smartphone market
The iPhone is looking pretty good in a pair of market snapshots
Click to enlarge. Source: comScore
In the past week, IDC and comScore have both issued reports of the fast-growing smartphone market that show Apple (AAPL) gaining share.
In the U.S., according to a comScore report published Monday, Apple's share grew to 25.3%, up more a point, in the fourth quarter of 2009, while Research in Motion's (RIMM) fell to 41.6%, down a point.
Microsoft (MSFT) and Palm (PALM) both lost ground while Google's (GOOG) Android gained nearly 3 points to reach 5.2%. See chart at right.
IDC's report, issued last Thursday, looked at the worldwide market, where Nokia (NOK) has long been dominant. Its charts (below the fold) show Apple gaining on Nokia and RIM in both the fourth quarter and the full year. Apple's shipments nearly doubled year over year in Q4 2009 to reach a global smartphone market share of 16%.
Below: IDC's charts.
Breaking up with the Nexus One
Was I fickle? Or was our relationship doomed from the start?
I just put my Nexus One “superphone” back in its box to send it home to Google (GOOG). I taped the sides of the Googley-themed cardboard, lest I be tempted to exhume it before the FedEx guy came to pick it up. So far, it hasn’t entered my mind to get the phone out of its package and fire it up one more time.
A gadget’s attraction (or a person’s for that matter) is often best measured by how much you think about it in the days and weeks following the “break up.” I have fond thoughts of my Nexus One, but I am sure our separation is the best thing for both of us. More
The Davos wrap
The World Economic Forum ended a week ago. That means the jet lag is gone, the expense reports are largely completed (if not yet reimbursed), and normal life has resumed.
Was it worth it? That's the question I posed at the outset, wondering if the substance could possibly outweigh the windbaggery. My unequivocal answer: Yes. More
Toyota's low-risk dialogue on Digg
When U.S. Toyota executive Jim Lentz fields questions today on Digg, there probably won't be many surprises. Photo: Toyota.
If you’re Toyota (TM) right now, the last thing you want is more surprises. That might explain why Jim Lentz, president of the U.S. sales division, will be fielding questions about the automaker’s troubles on social media site Digg today at 2 p.m. PT, 5 p.m. ET; it actually looks to be a pretty low-risk affair.
Normally, “low-risk” and “Digg” don’t go together in the world of corporate PR. On Digg, users get to vote topics into popularity or oblivion– so it can be an image management nightmare.
Want to see what an image management nightmare looks like? Go to Digg and search for the Must Dugg items under “customer service.” You’ll find some gems including, “Best Buy Cancels Your Order As You’re There Shouting Stop” (8,599 diggs) and “Toyota Employees Taped Watching Porn in Customer’s Truck” (3,480 diggs). And yes, both stories are pretty much as bad as they sound. More
Could Apple iPad prices fall?
Management plans to stay "nimble" if sales are sluggish, says an analyst
iPad price grid. Photo: Michael Copeland
In a report to clients issued Sunday, Credit Suisse's Bill Shope shares the highlights of a recent meeting with Apple (AAPL) management.
The one getting the most play — first in the Wall Street Journal's Market Beat blog — is Apple's apparent (and surprising) willingness to talk about iPad pricing.
“While it remains to be seen how much traction the iPad gets initially," Shope wrote, "management noted that it will remain nimble (pricing could change if the company is not attracting as many customers as anticipated)."
Given that the iPad's release date is still nearly two months away and that its starting price — $499 — is $500 less than the Journal's pre-introduction estimate, talk of price cuts seems premature.
More credible is Shope' report about how Apple sees the iPad fitting into its product lineup:
"Apple wants the iPad to be the best device for a few key use cases. For instance, the company believes it could eventually be seen as superior to both handheld and notebook devices for browsing the Internet, using the App Store, and consuming mobile media (video, photos, and e-books). Nevertheless, in other areas, notebooks, the iPhone, or an iPod may be more appropriate. This clear segmentation of capabilities suggests that cannibalization may be less of a concern than most currently believe."
Below: more details from Shope's report, courtesy of Silicon Alley Insider's Jay Yarow.
In Obama's budget, it's techies vs. taxes
By Jia Lynn Yang, writer
There's a frequent line in President Obama's speeches that makes every U.S. tech executive cringe: his vow to cut tax breaks for “companies that ship our jobs overseas.”
Obama's brushing over some details here. The U.S. tax code does not literally give a company a tax break every time it moves a job offshore. But it does allow companies to defer paying taxes on their overseas profits, so long as the money remains invested outside the U.S.
Obama has vowed to change this part of the law, and for months tech CEOs have been coming through Washington howling about the dire consequences of raising such taxes on multinationals. They've made some inroads with the administration, but based on what's in the president's 2011 budget released last week, Silicon Valley and DC are far from done battling over taxes.
The details are buried in the budget on page 161, Table S-8 under the heading "Reform the U.S. international tax system" (a word of warning: the link takes you to a sizeable PDF). If the proposed changes go through, the administration estimates it will bring in $122.2 billion in added tax revenue. As far as the administration is concerned, the added money will not only help close the gaping deficit, but stop U.S. companies from ducking out of domestic taxes by shopping around for which country has the best tax rate. For instance Ireland, with a rate of 12.5%, has become a popular destination for manufacturing.
Did Apple iPad hype turn off buyers?
There's more than one way to look at a before-and-after survey
Click to enalrge. Source: Retrevo
"The more people know about the iPad," writes David Coursey in PC World, "the less they want to buy one."
That's how Coursey interprets the results of a survey published Friday by Retrevo, an online electronics marketplace that polls its 4 million users from time to time on a variety of topical issues.
"There was too much hoopla," co-founder Manish Rathi told Computerworld. "When the product came out, more than half said 'I don't need it.'"
There's no arguing about the hoopla, but the pie chart above is open to other interpretations, according to — of all places — the Kindle Review.
