Google gives it all away
- 30 May 08, 11:08 GMT
The name of the game at the in San Francisco was 'free.'
The , which was just launched six weeks ago and has had developers clamouring to use it, is now being opened up to everyone and is free. The new version of the is free. is for nothing. , nada. And the mobile software platform also at no cost down.
So while most of the booty really is free as part of the company's commitment to open source, there are one or two wee fly efforts to wheedle money out of people.
For a start from the end of the year, developers will have to pay to use the App Engine if they go over a certain number of page views.
Granted Google reckons the costs will be around $40 (拢20) a month and that's not mega bucks in the huge scheme of things. But that's a possible $1.4 million (拢750,000) from the 3000 people who went to Google IO. Surely every little counts even for a billion dollar company?
I liked the way the technical lead for the project Kevin Gibbs said that Google had been listening to developers and what they were hearing was that people 'wanted' to pay to use the App Engine. Really???
Let's look at Android and how Google will monetize that platform.
The had everyone buzzing. It looked a lot like the with its touch screen and cool apps that let you do everything from play Pac Man to drawing a specific shape on the screen to unlock the phone instead of using a password.
Questions put to tech lead Andy Rubin in a journalists q and a that this was a shot across Apple's bows were shrugged off because he claimed Android could also have the trackball facility just like the He also said that Google wouldn't be making the actual device and that they are giving away all the software.
Mind you the company's vp of engineering, Vic Gundotra did admit that the iPhone was something to behold and that he "is a slave to Apple products and willingly opens his wallet every time Steve Jobs comes out with something new."
Not too long to wait Vic. Put on June the 9th on your Google calendar.
Back to the money part because Google is working aggressively on building infrastructure to sell ads on mobile phones, including those using Android. And with mobile devices being talked up as the next big thing it also represents another platform for Google to try and dominate.
I don't mean to sound churlish but let's not forget that behind this mantra of giving back to the community, Vic Gundotra openly admitted that one of the reasons Google invests in things "is if it benefits Google economically." Fair dues.
By and large though this conference certainly did seem to be a homage to the idea of free, even if attendees had to pay $400 (拢200) to get in. It's Google's biggest developers' shindig to date and the first time the company has charged people. But for the money, there was a whole lot of free.
Besides the t-shirts which came with the price of entry might be a collectors item one day. The pattern was meant to spell out Google IO in binary, but it actually spelled out Google KO.
It's kind of good to know Google fouls up now and then. Still I have to tell you in all the years of going to conferences, this one was a haven of cool.
From the start of the day to the end of the day, there was a truck load of free food. You could choose to gorge on free sandwiches, pastries and fresh fruit at any time of the day or nip into the grill room, texicali or deli rooms.
Sodas, candy, crisps or chips as they are known here, were free. There was other free swag like tote bags and water bottles.
WiFi was free and so was a big whoop up party that included games, booze and music from a New Zealand band called the .
In between conference sessions, you could play pool or football or just catch up on your Gmail while relaxing on one of the colourful beanbags.
And the total icing on the cake was the relaxation zone where Alexa and Karla took care of easing the stresses and strains of your day by giving you a good chair massage.
Both are full time Google massage therapists yet alas haven't worked out the knots and kinks in Sergey or Larry's shoulders.
If you ever wanted to know what working for Google was like, then this conference was the place to be.
Note to conference organisers, massage therapists are the total killer app!
Will 7 prove deadly to Vista?
- 28 May 08, 13:51 GMT
Lots and lots of clogging up the internet pipes today about Windows 7.
It follows the first public demo of the technology yesterday at the All Things Digital conference in San Diego. You can read Maggie Shiels' piece .
Putting aside issues about the touch technology itself for one moment, the biggest question about this public demo of Windows 7 is: what harm will its promise do to sales of Vista?
I just received an interesting note about Windows 7 from the Microsoft PR team. In it, it states: "Microsoft absolutely recommends customers deploy Windows Vista today."
In other words, Microsoft are telling XP customers not to wait for Windows 7 but to grab Vista now.
Despite issuing more 140 million licenses for Vista worldwide, it's seen by many as a failure.
And given that Windows 7 is supposed to be launched in 2010 that's close enough for many customers, including IT buyers in companies, simply to keep on using Windows XP and wait for Windows 7.
Microsoft itself is only too aware of this problem.
As Chris Flores writes on the : "With Windows 7, we're trying to more carefully plan how we share information with our customers and partners."
If Microsoft reveals too much about Windows 7 it's only going to make XP customers more likely to wait, and if the firm once again over promises on what 7 will deliver, the launch itself could be as flat as the one that greeted Vista.
Oh - and here's the official demo video of Windows 7.
Gamers are social too
- 28 May 08, 12:06 GMT
A large piece of research into European gaming habits has been .
It doesn't say very much to be honest - but there is one message that it keeps hammering home: gamers are not anti-social outcasts.
According to the survey of 6,000 gamers across Europe most play games because they are fun to play, while 55% do it to relax and de-stress.
47% watch TV, 46% surf the net, 46% spend time with friends and family and only 40% of gamers actually play games - for between six and 14 hours week.
Amazingly, 58% of European gamers actually go shopping at least once a month, if they have a few hours spare.
Over a third of gamers do some exercise outdoors - sorry Wii Fit owners - or play sport, at least once a month.
And a third of gamers actually go to a party or go dancing at least once a month.
So don't worry - video games aren't turning us into trigger-happy obsessives.
What wonderfully rounded people us gamers are.
You can download some key facts (as a PDF) .
BT iPlayer Homehub issues
- 27 May 08, 08:25 GMT
BT technical staff are looking into a number of problems some of its broadband customers are having using the streaming version of the 大象传媒's iPlayer with the company's HomeHub router.
A number of online forums, including BT's , feature from users that the HomeHub router re-boots when the iPlayer is streaming video.
I can wholeheartedly sympathise because I have had this issue for more than a month.
The HomeHub is a modem/router built for BT by Thomson - and is required if customers are using the firm's PVR/IPTV system, BT Vision.
A number of people have reported with the HomeHub since it was launched.
On the Mark Wilkin, support community co-ordinator, asks customers with problems to leave the following information:
Home Hub Firmware Version
Operating System (e.g. Windows XP, Mac OS X Leopard 10.5 etc)
Browser Software (Opera, I.E. 7, Firefox 2.0.0.12 etc)
The URL or name of the iPlayer content you're having problems viewing and when during the recording the problems happen.
Time the issue occurs
Broadband Speed
Location (Exchange if you know it)
TV becomes social again
- 25 May 08, 10:03 GMT
Remember the term "water cooler moment"; in which a TV show generated a social buzz and was talked about by colleagues at work after broadcast?
It seems to me that there are fewer and fewer water cooler moments, in part because television has become less of a cohesively social experience.
PVRS, video on demand, BitTorrent, digital download stores, DVD box sets have all helped to fracture the common viewing experience.
We tend to watch our TV content out of sync with one another these days.
But last night I experienced a water cooler moment as a programme was being broadcast. It was social TV at the point of broadcast, and it was thanks to .
Eurovision is precisely the kind of mass experience and mass participation event that made, and arguably still makes, TV so social.
People have parties, print off voting forms etc to help make the event more inclusive.
But that sense of common viewing is restricted to people in your living room, or friends pinging each other text messages.
Last night I was watching Eurovision with Twitter runnng on my laptop. In real time, my Twitter friends and I shared comments and made observations about the event as it was happening.
Twitter was being used to exend the experience of watching the event together, but also for people to .
Social TV became a kind of informed viewing experience. Amidst my friends and followers there were "power viewers", those who were able to add detail, explanation and expertise to the viewing, and "empowered viewers", those of us whose experience of combining TV and Twitter was made richer.
You could not only share pithy comments with friends on Twitter, but by searching for Eurovision on you could see what the whole Twitter community was saying about the event.
People were also encourage to "tag" their Eurovision comments using a hashtag, #eurovision, and so posts directly relating to the event could be .
Other Twitter services like could also be used to grab a wider flavour of the discussions and debate.
So does this mean anything? Arguably all Twitter did was turn an old fashioned mass participation event, viewing Eurovision, into the digital age.
But imagine how Twitter could be used to build instant communities around real time TV content, be it programmes or event TV?
The interesting thing about last night was that it was totally spontaneous. There may be resistance/reluctance to doing this on a more structured, premeditated basis; but it would be an interesting experiment.
Twitter plus TV = informed viewing.
I'm excited by the potential.
UPDATE: My colleague Robin Haman, aka Cybersoc, has also about this.
Bright future predicted for Apple
- 22 May 08, 10:30 GMT
Analysts like to make waves. After all, if what they say lacks impact, then no-one pays attention.
So how about this prediction from : "Apple Inc. will become the hub of the digital home by 2013."
Forrester says Apple will evolve an "integrated digital experience" based on eight pillars.
Four of them you will probably recognise:
The Mac, Apple TV, the Apple store (the physical shop), iTunes.
Four of them are, ahem, guesswork from Forrester:
Apple home server product, AppleSound universal music controller, network-enabled gadgets (ie music, digital photo frame and alarm clock devices) and in-home installation services.
Now, I can certainly believe that Apple is working on a home server product, that's not really a big prediction. It's merely an extension of Apple TV and the Time Capsule wireless storage device it already ships.
But an AppleSound universal music controller? Do they mean a remote control? I'm not even sure why this is needed.
And can anyone else envisage Apple selling digital photo frames or alarm clocks? Nope, me neither.
And Apple offering in-home installation services? Erm, isn't the whole point of Apple's products that you don't need professional installation help? And what would people be installing exactly?
These predictions strike me as off key for a number of reasons:
1. I don't see Apple displacing satellite and cable firms so radically. In fact, I see more disruption of Apple's business by set-top box providers than the other way around.
2. Apple TV remains a work in progress and hasn't proved its potential.
3. Content providers are now very wary of doing deals with iTunes that leave them at the mercy of Steve Jobs. The music industry is doing everything in its power to break iTunes' hold. The film and TV industry won't make the same mistake
4. Open standards will triumph. I don't believe that "lock in" systems will ever work as the glue between our devices.
5. I don't think one company will ever be the hub. Interoperability will mean that we can cherry pick our devices and our content will run between them all.
Digital Britain - are we there yet?
- 22 May 08, 06:43 GMT
Want to know just about anything about how your area performs in the race to go digital?
Well head over to the website and have a look at the . There's one for , , and , and they are full of fascinating facts about our digital skills and our media habits.
Who would have thought that Sunderland would be Britain's most connected city, with 66% of households using broadband? Or that the countryside had overtaken the towns when it comes to having a broadband connection? Did you realise how low broadband take-up was in Glasgow - 32% - but how quickly Dundee and Aberdeen were moving in the digital race, with their citizens surfing the mobile internet and watching video online with the best of them? And did you know that contained 14,000 articles in Welsh and 2,000 in Ulster Scots with the latter apparently some of the keenest Wikipedians around?
The overall picture is a very positive one, with just about everyone able to get broadband if they want it and a high proportion of British households choosing to use the technology. But what Ofcom does not tell us is how fast our broadband is and what happens next. While the regulator is proclaiming that the geographical digital divide has been closed, that applies to reach, not to speed. If you live deep in the countryside, miles from the nearest exchange, and far from any cable you will be in the slow lane compared to city dwellers.
Then there is the problem of copper. The twisted pair copper cabling which brings broadband into most homes has performed miracles over the last decade, providing much higher speeds than most engineers imagined possible, but we are now reaching the limits of its capabilities. So pretty much everyone agrees that the next generation of broadband will depend on fibre - putting fibre-optic cabling right into the home.
It is already pretty common in Japan and South Korea, and it is starting in France, where fibre is being laid through the sewers. But here in the UK, everyone is scratching their heads over who will pay for it. BT is the obvious answer - but says its shareholders wouldn't approve the giant sums needed, and in any case it is not yet convinced that there is the demand for speeds of up to 100Mbps.
The debate about how we get to the next level in this digital race is now raging, with the government and Ofcom holding inquiries, and we want to play our part. So, at the beginning of June, I will be setting off on a journey across Broadband Britain - from a remote village on the west coast of Scotland down to a new development in Kent - to try to assess how far we've got and what new technologies may promise. We'll be inviting you to contribute, measuring your own broadband speeds, so watch this space.
Web-to-TV revolution
- 21 May 08, 09:41 GMT
There is no doubt the internet is a marvellous tool providing us with a window on the world that we could never have imagined.
But when it comes to sitting down with a glass of vino and kicking back to watch George Clooney do his thing with those Ocean Eleven boys in a movie, it has its limits. Frankly for my money, the piddly computer screen really can't compete with a lovely 56-inch flat screen HDTV.
Now it doesn't have to thanks to a new web-to-TV set top box.
The Player by has one simple aim at the moment and that is to let you watch movies on your TV that have been delivered to you via the internet.
Netflix clearly sees that it can't carry on forever with its present business model of delivering DVD's to your door packaged in iconic red envelopes. And as broadband connections improve and proliferate, this almost seems like the logical next step.
I am not alone in that thinking because the company's stock rose over 10% on the announcement of the device.
When it comes to streaming video via the internet, Netflix has some serious competition in the form of , ,, , and . But the industry is still young and Forrester Analyst James McQuivey says the launch of the Netflix Player proves that this is part of the "coming war over the territory known as the consumer living room."
Netflix has a few advantages over its competitors. First off, its player is cheaper at just $99 ($50) compared to between $230 (拢115) and nearly $300 (拢150). Secondly, the company boasts over 8 million subscribers and the DVD rights to 100,000 titles, George Clooney included.
Where it falls down is that it actually only has the digital rights to 10,000 movies and TV episodes. And most of those are movies that are at least five years old along with some TV shows and indie flicks thrown in.
If you are a Netflix subscriber, the service costs zlich.
In comparison Apple has 1,000 movies, but most of those are new releases.
And perhaps the clincher over any other devices out there is the simplicity of the box itself. A high speed internet connection can either be plugged into the box or the device can pick up a wireless signal.
At the moment, it's only available Stateside.
The reviewers have been raving about it and commending its picture quality, download speed and ease of use. Though one did note it's a shame it's just another ugly black box.
There's time enough for this new kid on the block to take a leaf out of Apple's design bible and offer a myriad of colours.
Can XO 2 reignite OLPC?
- 20 May 08, 21:32 GMT
The One Laptop Per Child program has unveiled the design for its second generation laptop, the XO2 or XOXO.
The excitement that once surrounded the project, only to be deflated by with Microsoft/Intel and slow orders from governments, has been reignited - thanks simply to the design of the new machine.
And at the moment, it's just that - a concept.
Joanna Stern of website wrote:
Negroponte didn't share many details about the XO 2.0's hardware, but the new system has two touch-sensitive displays. As you can see from the video and the pictures, the XO 2.0 will be much smaller than the original machine (half the size, according to the press release) and will have a foldable e-book form factor. "The next generation laptop should be a book," Negroponte said.
There's not much detail about the inside of the new e-book/laptop but the design is an extension of .
Nicholas Negroponte believes he can sell the machine for $75 by 2010.
He's made ambitious claims before. The $100 laptop, for example, remains a goal and not a reality.
But the project has moved on both structurally and philosophically since it was first launched - and is now embracing Windows, as well as Linux.
The project has so it will be interesting to see if it can relaunch and attain those original goals.
with typical hyperbole says it "totally blows the original away".
It does look good though....
UPDATE: The more I look at the design and read about the more I'm struck by how "commercial" the XO2 is.
It seems clear the OLPC is attempting to do two things at once - create a device which has practical value and use in the developing world and can also exploit consumer interest, possibily in an attempt to offset costs.
But somewhere something has to give. I'm just wondering where the compromises lie....
The 大象传媒 Sound Index
- 20 May 08, 13:04 GMT
I've just stumbled across a cool 大象传媒 website, thanks to . (I know, the irony).
The Sound Index produces a top 1,000 index of the most talked about music artists by crawling the discussions taking place on Bebo, Google Groups, iTunes, MySpace and YouTube.
The service works by leveraging technology developed by IBM at its labs.
According to IBM: "A variety of content ingestion techniques are employed to continuously gather user comments, listens, views and other interest indicators across multiple sources on the internet.
"This content is then processed through an analytics chain, which is comprised of advanced linguistic and natural language processing (NLP) technology. Comments are transliterated, de-spammed, and analyzed for relevance, and listens and views are aggregated at the band and individual track level."
In other words, the more references, posts, views, plays of a particular artist, the higher ranking it gets in the Sound Index.
At the moment Coldplay is at the top of the index. The index accompanies a 大象传媒 programme on weekends.
TechCrunch appeals to the 大象传媒 to release the data it processes to create the index back into the web so that other firms can use it.
What do you think?
DRM is dead, long live DRM
- 20 May 08, 12:43 GMT
I've just had a fascinating conversation with , an analyst with Jupiter, on the subject of and music.
His view, and one that might trouble some, is that DRM on music isn't going away anytime soon.
Now that might seem odd, given that has just announced a major online service offering six million MP3 (ie DRM free) tracks, and that already offers something similar.
But Mulligan believes that the appeal of services offering the sale of music on a per track, or per album, basis will always remain niche.
The "lost generation" of music listeners who have become accustomed to getting music for free - either through illegal downloads, or social services like or Pandora - are never likely to be seduced by stores like iTunes or Napster's MP3 service, he feels.
So new models of consumption are emerging - among them pseudo-subscription services in which you buy the right to listen to as much music as you want at the point of purchase of a particular device.
This is the business model for , which is due to be launched later this year.
It offers as much music as you want, but access is limited to a particular Nokia device and a limited number of computers.
Services which give all you can eat options on a monthly or annual subscription basis will also continue, says Mulligan.
He says the music industry has realised that the old model, which saw a single new format replacing an incumbent format, is giving way to the emergence of many contemporaneous formats for many different types of consumers.
And in order for these services to work, DRM is still needed - either to tie you to a particular subscription or a particular device.
In other words, the world of DRM is about to get more complicated than ever.
And the risk, says Mulligan, is that music services could become Balkanized around specific devices in the future.
For example: If I invest in a Nokia phone that brings with it an unlimited supply of music, what happens when I decide to buy a Sony Ericsson phone in a few years' time?
Will I be able to transfer my music? Possibly not.
At the moment, say Mulligan, such concerns are not on the radars of consumers.
In the short term, it looks likely that the DRM-free model will be the most expensive. If you want complete freedom of choice, then you'll pay for it on a per track, or per album basis.
The radical position and one that no record company is discussing right now, says Mulligan, is an all you can eat model that is also DRM-free.
And what about iTunes?
Mulligan says iTunes is in danger of looking somewhat old hat, with its one size fits all download model.
It's not threatened by competitors at the moment in a real sense, but there are threats on the horizon.
Mulligan predicts iTunes will offer an all you can eat model in the future - but one tied to its iPods, and at a price that is added into the device at the point of purchase.
So... would you like your iPod for $300 with no music, or $400 with as much music as you want, on the assumption you can never move it to a rival MP3 player.
And DRM? Don't plan the funeral just yet.
Meeting Google's Threesome
- 19 May 08, 22:15 GMT
You arrive up a long drive, past golfers and other country club members. Then, after passing through the portals of this hotel on the outskirts of Watford, you are suddenly in a different world. Eager young people are networking furiously, the chief executives of Europe's leading media companies are having discreet chats in the corner - oooh and there go two of the richest people you're likely to meet, the billionaire founders of the world's most happening technology company.
Welcome to , an in-house corporate conference like no other. After all, which other company could attract a prime minister and a queen ( and ) as speakers?
For a group of journalists from across Europe - including me - it was also a rare opportunity to meet the threesome at the top of Google. For an hour, in a conference room at the hotel, the founders and and the chief executive, (he's also a billionaire from his stock options), answered our questions.
We didn't get the hot news that we were looking for - a speedy response to in the Yahoo saga - but we did get a fascinating glimpse of what makes Google work, and the dynamics of the relationship between three very smart, and very strong-willed people who continue to build an ever more powerful business.
Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in almost identical dark jackets and grey T-shirts, sat side by side, batting most of the questions around - while Eric Schmidt, like a proud uncle with two brilliant nephews, sat at the end of the table, occasionally intervening when he felt Larry or Sergey were being too exuberant in their responses.
The threesome came together seven years ago, when Page and Brin recruited Schmidt as their chief executive, and they still seem to function as a team. I'm struggling to think of another business where the founders have made that work so well - usually, the clash of egos between entrepreneurs and professional managers leads to an explosion and some hasty departures.
So what did we learn? That, like any team whose overwhelming success has begun to antagonise the rest of the world, they present a united front against any criticism. No, Google isn't too powerful in advertising - it's yet to make it big in television or radio or print (but we're coming so watch out was the underlying threat). Oh, and by the way, our success isn't down to the "strong-arm tactics" used by another company which has run into anti-trust problems. Hmmm, wonder who that could be?
What about privacy? Not a real problem for Google - it's those pesky social networking sites that are the real issue, with users putting inappropriate photos online. "These things pop up and haunt you," according to Sergey. Whereas we will only use search data to give you an even better, more personalised web experience. And while some businesses may choose to play fast and loose with your data, that isn't the case with Google: "If we're not trusted, we have no business. We have such a lot to lose."
When it comes to the opposition, these guys claim they actually spend very little time thinking about it. In the words of Eric Schmidt, "Google tries to think about Google most of the time." You might think the two founders, having built huge fortunes and the world's most admired technology business, would find it a little dull to continue thinking about Google, but both seemed fired up by new challenges.
For Larry Page it was renewable energy. He's spotted that the huge server farms Google is building have lower energy bills in those places where the electricity comes from dirty old coal-fired power stations. So his new challenge is to prove that you can make renewable energy cheaper than coal, with investments in solar power.
Sergey Brin, just back from visiting relatives in Russia and apparently proffering some technical support, is frustrated by how complicated computers still are for many users, and fascinated by the way mobile phones are likely to give many in the developing world their first access to the internet. He promises that , Google's mobile operating system, will make a big difference in places like Africa.
Both apparently feel the need to show that their huge wealth can be put to good use - as well as buying them their own private Boeing 767. Here's how Sergey Brin summed it up at the end of their press conference: "We have to prove to the world that, as we have been successful and fortunate, we can reinvest to create substantial good."
It was a relaxed and sure-footed performance by the triumvirate that runs Google. Their company is no longer the smart and plucky kid taking on the big boys, but, to some eyes, the new playground bully of the internet. But they have the satisfaction of knowing that while "Google tries to think about Google most of the time", that is just what the opposition are doing too.
What is informed consent?
- 19 May 08, 17:00 GMT
When you sign up for a Facebook account, or an AOL account, or any one of a thousand different online services, do you ever read the terms and conditions?
I certainly don't. I just tick the necessary box and move on.
In so doing, I could be opening myself up to all sorts of things I don't really want, from targeted advertising to automated e-mail alerts, but I don't have any real come back because I've given my "informed consent".
But what does informed consent mean?
It's an important question because increasingly we are being asked to consent to the use of, and sharing of, our most personal data when online by companies who want to exploit it for commercial ends.
Should informed consent be contained within terms and conditions? How can we withdraw our informed consent if we change our minds?
An international working group has been created to help uncover solutions to the problem of how to create a "legally acceptable means of establishing consumer consent".
The group has been created following a ruling by EU privacy commissioners that informed consent must be obtained if companies wish to advertise to customers.
Members include Privacy International, the Information Commissioners of Ireland, France, the UK, Germay and Slovenia, as well as the involvement of firms like Microsoft, AOL and Facebook.
Privacy consultants will manage the working group.
The group hopes to produce a number of recommendations about how informed consent should be implemented by the end of the year.
With controversies around services like still ongoing, and new services being launched by the bucket-load each week, having a unified stance on consent is more urgent than ever.
It's not a sexy topic. But it's a crucial one.
Thumb bashing at the Golden Joysticks
- 19 May 08, 14:46 GMT
It's that time of the year again: voting commences for the .
The Golden Joysticks pride themselves of being the "people's choice" when it comes to video game awards and last year 750,000 votes for the best of the best were cast.
The results do tend to be a little, ahem, populist - Gears of War was last year's big winner - but that's no bad thing, surely?
With the postponed until 2009 - to make the voting window simpler and end the farcical situation in which unfinished games were getting nominated - the Golden Joysticks have taken on more importance.
The organisers are hoping to break the million vote barrier this year and I'll bet now that Grand Theft Auto IV will be the big winner. You don't need a crystal ball to make that prediction.
Voting at this stage is to create a shortlist of titles, which will be revealed on 23 June.
.
MicroHoo - talking again
- 18 May 08, 22:13 GMT
When Microsoft walked away from a bid for Yahoo two weeks ago, there was plenty of speculation that it would be back by the end of the year, possibly with a lower offer. Well it has come back, and a lot faster than anyone expected.
Microsoft confirmed tonight that it is talking to Yahoo again - though its rather mysterious statement talks of "an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo." It goes on: " Microsoft is not proposing to make a new bid to acquire all of Yahoo! at this time, but reserves the right to reconsider that alternative depending on future developments and discussions that may take place with Yahoo! or discussions with shareholders of Yahoo! or Microsoft or with other third parties. "
Right - so what is this transaction? It is difficult to see which part of Yahoo's business Microsoft would want to buy - and Yahoo to sell - without taking full control of the company. After all, if it's the search business, Yahoo will be left as a shell if it hands that over - so it might as well just negotiate a decent price for the whole kit and caboodle.
But presumably Carl Icahn's move to nominate an alternative board and go into battle with Jerry Yang over the future of Yahoo has concentrated minds. Perhaps Mr Yang and Microsoft's Steve Ballmer have realised that it's in both their interests to kiss and make up. After all, neither emerged particularly well from the noisy break-up of their marriage talks.
Spielberg on Seesmic
- 17 May 08, 19:14 GMT
If you're going to get some celebrity backing for your Web 2.0 start-up then Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford are pretty good choices.
Loic LeMeur scored a today by getting the famed director and actor to answer questions via his threaded video conversation site Seesmic.
Not all of the questions were answered live, apparently, which kind of defeats the purpose of Seesmic entirely.
Guardian journalist Jemima Kiss was one of those, however, who did get to.
With reviews for the latest Indiana Jones movie still outstanding, the film's producers are leaving no stone unturned in the bid for publicity.
The big ask
- 16 May 08, 16:57 GMT
For a lot of people living in Silicon Valley, is the guy who has helped them find an apartment, a job, someone to play tennis with, get rid of stuff, make a connection and even score tickets for the world series.
He has even helped me. I got the house I live in at the moment through , and the nursery school where my son goes to. When I lived in Silicon Valley during the dot com era I sold my car and other earthly chattels when I upped sticks to return to the UK.
The influence of his online classified site stretches far beyond the Valley.
Craigslist is the seventh most popular website in the States. The site has set up shop in 567 cities and in over 50 countries worldwide. Added to that boast is the fact it gets more than 10 billion page views per month. Pretty darned impressive.
In Silicon Valley, Craigslist is a byword for community, integrity and trust. Craig Newmark is like a celebrity here. And there is a genuine affection for him and for what he tries to do through the site.
"The internet is about inclusion" he explained. "Including everyone and trying to be fair to everyone and that's a little bit of what Craigslist is about."
"The deal is there is nothing really noble or altruistic or pious about what we are about. We are just doing what feels right."
So it was no surprise then that called on his services to speak to the graduating class of 2008 in the hopes they would be inspired by his words and his deeds.
Refusing to be hidebound by convention, Craig eschewed the safety of coming with a written speech and just talked from the cuff. While it might have been a bit rambling in parts, this crowd were willing to indulge him.
But the theme was constant. "Go out and change the world," he implored. A big ask for sure but nonetheless one that was in everybody's grasp to achieve he said.
Under searing heat on the stage of the Greek Theatre, Craig stressed that it was the boring stuff that was important and that this was the road to success for such a lauded goal.
"This is a big year in human history. We have an historic election this year coming up. If you want to do something big and boring then vote."
That simple.
And given this is Silicon Valley, he urged graduates to use the internet to become more politically active. Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace can help people connect for good causes like the elections coming up, he said.
"Most of you are too young to remember when we in this country had the rule of law and a Constitution, but at Craigslist we act as if the Consitution and the Bill of Rights are still in effect because we're pretty confident that on Jan 20th we're going to see that stuff again."
Dressed all in black in his hat and gown, Craig told me backstage that he was impressed by how the Democratic race was energising young people and that by encouraging everyone to vote, "they really do have the chance to change the world."
Craig has made no secret of the fact he is backing and even writes for his blog but during this convocation he didn't wave the flag for any particular candidate just for democracy as a whole.
But it wasn't all politics. After all part of his duty was to impart some words of wisdom and advice to arm these youngsters as they make their way into the world.
"Live and let live."
"Treat people like you want to be treated."
"Give the other person a break now and then."
"Include everybody."
"Guys you are not as funny as you think you are."
"Articulate what your company or non profit is about in 45 seconds."
"Focus on the things that can be done."
Okay so it might all sound homespun and boring, as Craig would say, but he maintains that's exactly why it's important. Its that boring stuff we do that makes us better human beings and that in turn makes us want to better ourselves and the world we live in.
As well as giving the students some 'tools' to survive the grown up world, Craig also recommended a bible of sorts that has kept him on the straight and narrow.
"Read the work of America's most eminent organisational behavourist," he suggested. "Many of you will be working in corporations and cubicles so you need to read everything associated with the name (pause for effect)...
As Dilbert would no doubt say, that's one 'induhvidual' piece of advice Craig.
One Laptop - hello Windows, goodbye Linux
- 16 May 08, 00:00 GMT
A revolutionary organisation sets out to change the world and empower millions by overturning the established order - but ends up abandoning its early aims and getting into bed with what used to be viewed by some of its supporters as the Great Satan. That is how some of the pioneers of the project will view the .
When we spoke on the phone to , the founding father of OLPC, it was clear he was expecting flak from past and present disciples for deciding that the little green laptop would now run Windows XP as well as Linux.
There has already been an ideological battle raging within the non-profit organisation, with former colleagues of Mr Negroponte decrying his tactics - some publicly in blogs, others more quietly. They have laid bare the schism in this laudable project to bring cheap computing to millions of children across the developing world. It's a battle between hardware and software, and between pragmatists and purists.
The purists seem to believe that open-source software - the Sugar user-interface and the Linux-based operating system - is at the heart of the project and its educational mission. But Nicholas Negroponte, dreamer turned realist, just wants to get as many laptops out as possible and now appears not to mind whether they run Linux or Windows. "OLPC is not in the open-source advocacy business," he told us, "we're in the education business."
While conceding that sales of the XO laptop had not taken off as fast as he had hoped, he denied that was the reason for the Microsoft deal. But it is clear that the very survival of the project was in question as country after country failed to translate warm words about the laptops into firm orders. Mr Negroponte admitted that certain countries had been insistent that they wanted Windows XP as an option before they would consider signing up.
OLPC and Microsoft are suggesting that what we will see is dual-boot machines, where using Windows is only an option, just as it is on Apple computers these days. But who wants to bet that government education departments, already far more familiar with Microsoft's operating system, will now opt for he Linux alternative?
So where does this leave the whole OLPC project? Next week a new version of the XO will be unveiled, and later this year trials will take place in five countries of laptops with Windows XP. But in the meantime, other small, cheap laptops - the Asus Eee, the Intel Classmate - will continue to make inroads in developing countries. Even with the backing of the biggest noise in the software world, the XO laptop may not fulfill the dreams of its creators.
But then again, the OLPC vision was about spreading the idea that cheap computing could play as big a part in education in developing countries as more books or better facilities. And, even if it does not come in the form of the XO laptop, that vision now looks more likely to become a reality.
The Apple tease
- 14 May 08, 15:05 GMT
is the master of the tease. Just when you are about to get bored with their unwillingness to reveal what they are doing, they come out with an announcement that entices but doesn't quite satisfy.
Their latest missive about the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, or , in San Francisco next month has just confirmed that Steve Jobs will be giving the keynote address and that yes he will be talking about their operating system OS X Leopard and, more alluringly, the iPhone.
At this year's WWDC it certainly seems that Apple is putting the iPhone centre stage. For the first time it will showcase sessions for mobile developers with in-depth sessions and hands-on labs to explore the capabilities of the iPhone 2.0 software.
But Apple media figures are stonewalling on whether or not Mr Jobs will actually be taking the wraps off a new 3G smartphone at the WWDC event.
Let's have a look at some of the signs that suggest there is a high probability factor that he will.
First up you can't get your hands on an iPhone for love nor money. Online in the UK and the States it seems supply has dried up. And last week O2, the iPhone provider in Britain, admitted it wasn't currently available on shop shelves and that customers may well have to hold out for the 3G version. Even in Mac shops in the States the iPhone has disappeared.
Also there have been copious hints over the previous months from the likes of wireless chief Ralph de la Vega who said during a conference in April "Our integrated devices will be 3G devices in the not-too-distant future, and I mean months."
And let's also add into the mix the fact that the price of the 8GB iPhone was slashed by $169 (拢85). Perhaps this was a way to get rid of old stock and persuade people to snag a bargain despite the fact the next generation phone is waiting in the wings.
The last thing Apple wants is everyone holding onto their money until the new shinier version of the iPhone is available. After all what company wants to be saddled with lagging sales as a result and a load of old stock nobody wants?
Apple is not alone in keeping information about updated products close to its chest.
But timing is everything.
Conversely you don't want to be turning away customers with money to burn. They may well choose Apple's chief smartphone rival in the market the BlackBerry which this week launched its new 3G, wi-fi and GPS enabled .
And in a move to hang onto its lead over the iPhone, BlackBerry has just announced its partnering with to give users services like consumer email and instant messaging. This shifts the phone away from the buttoned up image of a business device and makes it more social and per chance hip.
Plenty of analysts are talking up the BlackBerry Bold and applauding the company's success at beating Apple to the punch with their new phone, but perhaps not unsurprisingly the guys over at don't think that much of it. Chris Neher told me "The BlackBerry 9000 is a pathetic and sad attempt to hide an antique beneath iPhone veneer."
If Apple wants to make real inroads into mature 3G markets like Europe and Asia then it is going to need something with real bells and whistles to attract sales. And Steve Jobs will need these markets to succeed if he wants to achieve his stated aim of selling 10 million iPhones by the end of the year.
Oh and Mr Jobs if you think BlackBerry's Research in Motion is your main competitor, a word to the wise to look over your shoulder.
Microsoft is reportedly talking about controlling 40% of the smart phone market through by 2012. So far 11 million devices carry the operating systems and the Redmond company is aiming for 20 million by the end of this year.
And let's not forget about Google's offering via .
So Steve no pressure then!
Oh and one other reason to believe the rumours swirling around the Valley that the new iPhone will make an appearance next month is that it will be one year old. Happy birthday.
Craigslist vs eBay: It's war
- 14 May 08, 08:54 GMT
When Jim Buckmaster, Craigslist's incredibly laid-back CEO, dropped into the 大象传媒 earlier this year, we briefly discussed the stake held in the classified listings site by eBay.
Not a problem, was Jim's line, they don't try to influence the way we do business. Which seemed pretty relaxed of eBay, since shows no sign of wanting to maximise profits or indeed of worrying at all about shareholder value.
Wow, how things have changed. First eBay slapped a lawsuit on Craigslist, accusing its executives of actions that "unfairly diluted eBay's economic interest by more than 10%", and excluding eBay representatives from company meetings. Now with its own lawsuit, charging eBay with this extraordinary :
"Unlawful and unfair competition, misappropriation of proprietary information, deceptive passing-off, business interference, false advertising, phishing attacks, free-riding, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, and breaches of fiduciary duty."
Phew - at least they left out grand theft auto and jaywalking.
The real cause of the conflict is eBay's decision to start the vigorous promotion of something called . It's a classified ads site now operating in many countries, including the US. So eBay has parked its tanks on the lawn of a company in which it has a major shareholding.
What's more, the lawsuit alleges that eBay chose as the director to sit on Craigslist's board an executive who was involved in Kijiji, and tried to exploit its access to confidential information about the company in its promotion of Kijiji.
Whatever the truth behind this unsavoury corporate battle - and you can be sure eBay will have a very different version of events - one thing is clear. There are two contrasting cultures in Silicon Valley - the laid-back, "let's try this and see if it works, but hey, dude, we're having fun" spirit of Craigslist, and the serious, shareholder-value driven ethos of the likes of eBay and just about everyone else.
Putting the two together was always bound to lead to an explosion at some stage.
Twitter and the China earthquake
- 12 May 08, 08:31 GMT
I was beginning to think Twitter - the micro-blogging service that's all the rage amongst the technorati - was just another fad for people who want to share too much of their rather dull lives. Until this morning.
When I logged on to my desktop Twitter application (sad, I know) it was alive with Tweets about the earthquake in China. Most of them were from the celebrated technology blogger , who is famous, perhaps notorious, for receiving a Twitter message every second of the day.
He is based in California, but thousands of miles away from the quake he was providing breaking news about it, linking to sites like the and the , even providing a first picture - though how authentic that is remains to be seen. He now claims that Twitter had the breaking news even before the , which provides early warnings of seismic events.
Let's see, as this story unfolds, whether this is the moment when Twitter comes of age as a platform which can bring faster coverage of a major news event than traditional media, while allowing participants and onlookers to share their experiences.
My so-called digital life
- 10 May 08, 09:27 GMT
Michael Arrington has an interesting post at the top of right now.
He's predicting that Google is going to launch a product called Friend Connect on Monday.
In essence, he says, Friend Connect is "a set of APIs for Open Social participants to pull profile information from social networks into third party websites".
Open Social is a collection of tools shared by web services - from MySpace, to Orkut and to Linked In - that allows interoperability of elements like gadgets and applications.
Friend Connect is different from using tools like RSS to pull in information to a website or profile page because the data portability will be two way.
At the moment I can pull my Flickr photos into my Facebook profie, for example, but I cannot alter, add or delete those photos on Flickr from Facebook. I can't add photos to Facebook that are automatically added to Flickr, for example.
If Friend Connect is launched, this is interesting because it is part of a growing trend to turn our scattered digital footprints into something akin to our digital DNA.
At the moment my digital footprints are randomly placed across a multiplicity of sites - from , to , Google Calendar, , Facebook, blogs, Ovi, YouTube, , , Google Reader shared items and many others where I've long since stopped updating my information - from Linked In to Upcoming.
Like many people I have a few key hubs and these companies are realising that it makes more sense to let people share their data across websites than trying to lock them into a walled garden.
Why does it make more sense? From a user point of view no one site will ever be able to fulfill all of our digital needs so a single website will always live in fear of a user simply moving his or her data to a different walled garden that happens to have better flowers or a better view.
My 13-year-old Niece, for example, has just abandoned Bebo and de-camped to Facebook, taking all her friends with her.
But if sites let data move freely between these different gardens then users have no reason to leave. So my niece could be on both Bebo and Facebook at the same time.
From a website point of view, it would be a much more powerful proposition to advertisers. Personalised advertising is becoming more and more sophisticated and imagine what they could do with information collated not just from my status updates and profile, but also my GPS-tagged photos and video etc.
This is why MySpace something similar on Thursday and why Facebook followed suit a day later.
Arrington believes that "whoever is a player in this space is likely to control user data over the long run."
I'm not quite sure what he means by "control user data" but I think he senses that while data is given more license to roam we will always gravitate to a few hubs and key players, such as MySpace, Facebook or the Google-led Open Social.
These different islands are beginning to build bridges to different services, and the members of Google's Open Social movement, seen in the past as rivals, are also forging links to one another.
One of the key tests of these new linked services, however, will be accountability.
If my data is flowing between different web services, and therefore different firm's data centres, how do I get my information off those services?
Do I have to make one request or 20? If companies are committed to allowing us to share our data across different companies as simply as possible they should also make it just as easy to remove our data.
At the moment I feel, perhaps mistakenly, that I have control over my own data. But once my hubs start to share my data, who controls it?
Firefox: Can browsers make bucks?
- 8 May 08, 13:33 GMT
What's the most valuable piece of web software you use every day? Your web browser, surely. So whoever makes the browser which dominates the market should also make riches beyond the dreams of avarice - shouldn't they?
In the early days of the web, that certainly seemed to be true. Netscape Navigator was, for many, the first introduction to web browsing. When Netscape made its stockmarket debut on the NASDAQ in 1995, it rocketed in price, lighting the blue touch-paper for the whole dot com frenzy. Then along came Microsoft's Internet Explorer and blew it out of the water - leading to years of and other regulators.
But does Microsoft actually make any cash from IE? Not as far as I can see. Does make a significant contribution to Apple's bottom line? Again no.
So what about Firefox? The browser from the Mozilla Foundation is the poster-child for the open-source movement, and it seems to be making some serious headway in its battle with Internet Explorer. The Mozilla people have shown that users do want innovation in the way they browse the web - whatever the makers of Internet Explorer might say.
"If Microsoft's customers wanted new features they would have told the company about it," said one Microsoft executive in 2004, going on to explain that features such as tabbed browsing were not important to IE users. Well of course he was wrong, and Microsoft has been forced to refresh its browser with just the kind of features pioneered by Firefox.
June sees the final release of , the latest version of the open-source browser, and Mozilla Europe's President popped into our office the other day to show off some of the features.
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Most of the thousands of changes are hidden so far beneath the bonnet that users won't notice them - except perhaps for a welcome increase in speed - but there is one impressive new feature.
The engineers who collaborate to build Firefox call it the "awesome bar" and it certainly grabbed my attention. The address window at the top of the browser now functions as a search engine for your previous web activity. So, for instance, I type in 'Yahoo shares' and it takes me to all those recent pages I've visited showing Yahoo's current share price and discussing the company's future.
Obviously other web browsers can show you names of sites you've visited - but not their content. So here we have another advance in search, which, as Google has shown, is the real route to making money online.
Which brings me back to my original thought. The Mozilla foundation is a not-for-profit organisation but on top of the thousands of volunteer coders around the world it does now have 160 employees, and they have to be paid. So where is the cash coming from? Tristan Nitot explained that originally it was T-shirts that were the main revenue earner - Mozilla has an online shop selling Firefox-badged products - but now it's found a more substantial source of income.
That search box in the top right hand corner of the browser generates a big chunk of revenue - almost all of it from Google, which is the default search engine.
So Firefox is dangerously dependent on Google for its income. But now, in the "awesome bar", it's got its own search engine which could, in theory, provide a very valuable stream of data about the browsing habits of hundreds of millions of internet users. Tristan Nitot claims that Firefox is approaching a 30% market share.
But there's one problem. Can an organisation like Mozilla really start making money out of its users' personal data - either by pushing adverts their way or passing the data on to other marketing organisations? I doubt it - that would go against everything it stands for. But who's to say another firm won't imitate the "awesome bar" - and find that it's a way of making a few bucks from a browser?
BT - back to mobile?
- 7 May 08, 16:13 GMT
In 2001, BT decided to get out of mobile telephony, splitting off its Cellnet division which sailed off into the sunset as O2. Since then the telecoms giant has made a reasonable fist of transforming itself into a major broadband business - but has always seemed to have an unfulfilled yearning to get back into mobile. Its BT Fusion product - a phone that works at home and outside - has failed to make a big impression on domestic customers.
Today it's launched a new product called , with the promise that it will allow its broadband customers to take the internet with them when they leave home. What they're actually selling is a more expensive broadband package that comes with a mobile phone - you've a choice between two models. The phones will give you access to thousands of wi-fi hotspots across Britain and will also let you make calls over the network that BT hires from Vodafone.
But when I pitched up for the launch of this product at the top of London's BT Tower - all decked out with park benches and bus seats to give an impression of the great outdoors - nobody seemed to want to use the words "mobile phone". All the emphasis was on using the devices to read emails or surf the web on the move, rather than make calls.
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And a closer look at the tariffs confirmed that impression - the basic package includes just 50 minutes of calls a month, which will be far too little if this is to be your only phone. BT confirmed that it expects most customers to be using this product as a second device, along with their existing mobile.
So this is really a move by BT into the fast growing world of the mobile internet. As we've seen, mobile operators are now at last seeing explosive growth in the flow of data across their 3g networks as customers use those USB dongles which give you mobile internet access on your laptop. Those operators are even telling customers that mobile broadband could replace their fixed line connection - so BT is taking the fight back to them with its Broadband Anywhere.
And it's also betting that a technology which was all the rage a couple of years ago - wi-fi - can regain the initiative against souped-up 3g networks which now seem to have the initiative. Now for all the talk of thousands of wi-fi hotspots - BT's tie-up with the community wi-fi scheme adds another 82,000 UK locations - we all know that this technology does not deliver a seamless service on the move.
But BT obviously believes that a substantial number of people want just a bit of mobile internet, rather than the more comprehensive experience you get from a 3g dongle. So it's BT versus 3g - the mobile broadband battle just got more interesting.
Sony boss and your questions
- 7 May 08, 15:07 GMT
As promised I put a range of your questions to Kaz Hirai, president of Sony Computer Entertainment today. You can read my news story .
On the issue of the in games, he told me that the firm had listened to users and would be introducing it in the future.
He didn't give me a date but I've established from a third-party source that you can expect the arrival of this in the next few months.
I hope that makes a lot of people happy.
On the subject of Europe having different spec PS3s he said time differences between the launch of the PS3 in North America/Japan and Europe had been a factor.
He described the hard drive variations between the territories as "subtle differences"
But he said he would "listen to consumers" when it comes to hard drive capacity.
He told me: "If there's a necessity that we bring a large hard disc drive model here in Europe, or any other market for that matter, then we will look into that."
He pointed out that a 80GB PS3 in Europe was the largest of all territories. Now, I'm not sure about mainland Europe, but is the 80GB model available at all in the UK? I can't find one.
On the subject of the PlayStation Network in Europe being the poor relation of the US store, he said "localised content" caused delays.
He also said that Sony Computer Entertainment Europe recognised "we are getting those comments and feedback from users so its up to us make sure we provide the same kind of content as quickly as possible to European consumers as we do to consumers in North America and Japan".
So those are your key points I put to him. Are you satisfied with the answers?
From my perspective I thought the interview revealed a number of key points, which are in my news story. But to recap:
:Sony is committed to investment in hardware technology
:The company is looking into cloud gaming
:It recognises the failings from the launch period
:It believes it can reclaim its gaming crown from Nintendo.
What do you think?
Microhoo: Is it the chase that counts?
- 7 May 08, 12:43 GMT
You know that feeling of seeing a 'to die for' dress in a shop window that you just have to have? You are convinced it will complete your wardrobe and be a knock out when you put it on. Despite the hideous price tag, you decide what the heck and splash out your hard earned cash.
Hey you deserve it! But come the day, come the hour you go into the shop, try it on, sashay up and down the dressing room and eventually conclude that it isn't really the dream buy you thought it was going to be. You reluctantly leave under a cloud of depression with your money taunting you and burning a hole in your pocket.
Well I think that's how Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer is feeling at the moment.
There he was gung ho like some Wild Western cowboy who said to Yahoo "I like the cut of your jib and to prove how much I really, really want you here is $47.5 billion." Then when his approaches were not warmly embraced he ponyed up to Jerry Yang and said "I'm going to buy you whether or not you like it."
And despite all his bravado and talk about a hostile takeover, Mr Ballmer turns round and says "You know what Yahoo? I'm just not that into you any more."
Well that's how it seems. There is chatter that he vacillated over the blockbuster buy and at times even said to staff at Microsoft "Hey, shall we just can this thing?"
The talk in the Valley is that Mr Ballmer never really made up his mind about the deal. Apparently the more Yahoo resisted the more he went cold. Usually in the game of love it's the chase that counts!
Steve Ballmer did have an erratic approach to courting Jerry Yang and the Yahoo mob. Sometimes he would be flirty and talk up how the company would be the ideal partner for Microsoft. Then other times he acted like a caveman saying if Yahoo didn't get into bed with Microsoft then he would drag them there. So last century Steve!
But Steve Ballmer isn't the only reason this deal went south.
Jerry Yang was sending out all kinds of mixed signals. On the one hand he was all coy and on the other he was saying "Yeah, big guy we can hook up if the price is right." In the end it was all a front. Jerry Yang didn't want to be bought, or should I say, didn't want to be bought by Microsoft.
For many in Silicon Valley, it's a bit like your young hip friend marrying the old bald boring guy down the street. He wants you to pep up his life, and you want him to make you feel warm and secure. Or do you? Are you just toying with him to make another suitor jealous and help boost your stock?
The truth is that in Silicon Valley, Microsoft is the company people slag off, bitch about, moan and make fun of. Yahoo is the one people want to hang out with and go to parties with. They come from two very different cultures.
Meanwhile Steve Ballmer has gone all moody and silent while Jerry Yang has been telling anyone who will listen that it's not his fault the marriage was called of and that life as an independent company is going to be just wonderful from here on in thank you very much.
What of the future though? For Yahoo there are all sorts of hook ups that might come to fruition. From AOL to MySpace and Google.
Meanwhile Steve Ballmer has nearly $50 billion to spend and doesn't seem to know where to spend it. Or does he? Certainly there is one school of thought that as Yahoo's share price plays ping pong and investors turn to lawsuits, Steve Ballmer might just swoop in and pick up the company at a lower price.
And you know even though you thought that dress just didn't cut it at that high price you first saw it for, it's amazing how it recaptures some of its former glow when the 'sale' sign goes on it!
Sony on the way back?
- 6 May 08, 20:58 GMT
Sony's that sales of its PlayStation 3 console have now overtaken the Xbox 360 in Europe will make for uncomfortable reading at Microsoft.
I've been chatting with games consultant , who told me that it was "no surprise" that the PS3 is now ahead of the 360.
But let's not forget the near-disastrous launch of PS3 16 months after the 360's debut, lack-luster early titles, production problems, delays, and seeming between Sony Europe and America.
This was a textbook example of how not to launch a machine from a position of seeming dominance.
Yet the PlayStation brand has stayed strong enough in Europe to see off the Microsoft machine.
Nick Parker believes Microsoft's inability to widen the appeal of the Xbox 360 beyond the hardcore male gamer has been its undoing.
The worry for Microsoft must be that this is the start of the doomsday scenario they had always feared would come to pass.
Microsoft's gameplan for this generation of consoles has always been simple: get in first, build a lead and then retain it.
The company bust a gut to launch the Xbox 360 before the PlayStation 3, believing its lateness to the market in the last round of machines had cost it dear.
The big question was could the lead the company would accrue be large enough to hold off the inevitable PlayStation charge?
In Europe the answer is no.
In North America, the heartland of Xbox 360, the fight continues.
Freesat - will it fly or flop?
- 6 May 08, 18:53 GMT
The 大象传媒 and ITV have today launched their joint satellite television service, , which promises 200 channels by the end of this year for a one-off fee with no subscription. But when you've already got a choice bwteen BskyB, Virgin Media, Freeview and BT Vision, do you really need yet another way of getting hold of digital television?
Or to put it another way - is Freesat another Freeview, coming from nowhere to be a rip-roaring success, or an ITV Digital, where great expectations ended in disaster? (By the way, a quick declaration of interest - my salary is paid by the 大象传媒. At least it was last month).
Freesat's backers are being relatively modest in their claims for the service. It has two functions - to offer another way of getting free digital television in areas where viewers struggle to get Freeview, and to give the 10 million homes who've already got HD-ready sets a way of actually watching high definition TV without signing up to Sky or Virgin.
But as ITV's Michael Grade explained at this morning's launch, 90% of homes have already found a way to go digital - if not through Freeview, then via Sky or cable - so Freesat may have arrived a little late to play a major role in digital switchover.
What's more, BskyB has been pointing out today that for the past four years it has been offering its own free satellite service - though cynics might think that it hasn't been heavily promoted until this rival came along.
So perhaps the promise of high-definition will be the bigger draw? At launch, viewers will just get the 大象传媒 HD channel , with the promise of an ITV HD channel coming soon - which will probably not be available on Sky. But if viewers decide that HD really matters to them, will they be more likely to go the whole hog and pay up for Sky's much bigger menu of high-definition channels?
What really helped Freeview take off was a large section of the population that wanted more television - but was sniffy about having a dish or reluctant to pay a subscription. The potential audience for Freesat is bound to be much smaller, but the 大象传媒 and ITV have at least found a way of delivering their growing number of HD programmes to audiences without relying on a rival's platform.
But there's one other aspect of Freesat which makes it attractive to the 大象传媒. What the Director General Mark Thompson was keen to point out at the launch was the ethernet port in the back of the set-top box. The plan is that viewers will plug the box into their broadband connection and that this will become a way of delivering interactive services and the iPlayer to millions of homes.
Getting the iPlayer off the computer and onto the television (and it's already available on Virgin cable) is a priority for the corporation. So if Freesat can help in that mission, then it will be seen by the 大象传媒 as a success.
Stating the obvious, but...
- 6 May 08, 16:01 GMT
I'm at the PlayStation event at the O2 in London.
It's a European press day for Sony to give a heads up on what the firm is working on over the next 12 months.
What has struck me so far is the number of video journalists here. There must be in excess of 40 or 50 VJs with cameras - from handicams, to HD rigs that would not look out of place at a major sporting event.
Most of the people here, I'm guessing, work for online publications and video has become an indispensable part of their toolset.
I'm also guessing that the video will be on websites incredibly quickly. Speed is everything on the web and these guys are the master practitioners.
I'm down here without a cameraman - we deployed our VJ on a different story today - but I hope to grab something on my mobile phone. I'm the lowest-tech tech journalist here...
Zune adds TV shows: Excited?
- 6 May 08, 14:12 GMT
So the Zune will now have a in place, so users can download TV shows and watch them back on their player.
The thing is: With Zune availability limited to the US, does any one really care?
Jupiter analyst : "Microsoft has yet to provide seamless content flow from screen to screen across the range of devices supported by Microsoft technology."
The Zune marketplace does have NBC shows - which were pulled from iTunes after the firm fell out with Apple. But that's hardly a big pull for consumers.
When the Zune was in the US many people expected Microsoft would use the limited launch to learn some lessons before aggressively competing with Apple and the iPod worldwide.
That's yet to happen. Why?
Is Microsoft still learning lessons? Has it all but surrendered global domination to Apple?
Apparently the Zune IS heading for Canada. So is that the first step towards an all-out assault on the iPod?
I'll leave the final word to : "Microsoft still has a long way to go before Zune becomes a credible iPod alternative for mainstream consumers."
Women and technology
- 6 May 08, 11:22 GMT
Are there enough women working in technology?
I don't have any figures to hand, but I think it's safe to say that women are woefully under-represented in the technology industries.
A survey landed on my desk this morning, commissioned from , which said 73% of girls aged 11 to 16 believe there is a gap between school interest in technology and a career in the industry because of a lack of UK female role models.
I've been struggling to think of some UK specific examples. So if you've any suggestions, send them on.
But here are a few high-flying women from outside the UK who have succeeded in the tech world and who should act as excellent role models:
- the first female engineer to be hired at Google. She (pictured) is now in charge of search and user experiences at the web giant.
- until very recently, chief executive of auction giant Ebay.
- architect of the design of the $100 laptop for the program, and is currently looking at commercial spin offs of the technology.
- chairman and chief executive of Xerox, one of the world's leading tech innovators.
- head of Alcatel-Lucent, one of the world's biggest network firms.
- head of product development for Genentech, one of the founders of the biotech industries.
And it's not as if successful women in technology are a new thing. Consider , viewed by many as the world's first computer programmer. And she was doing her thing back in the 19th Century.
PlayStation boss answers your questions
- 6 May 08, 09:14 GMT
I'm interviewing , the global boss of PlayStation on Wednesday morning.
Sony is hosting a PlayStation day this afternoon at the 02 arena in London, giving an update on the business and showcasing titles that are coming out later this year.
I sit down with the PlayStation boss tomorrow morning, so if there's a burning question you want me to put to him, here's your chance.
Oh - and let's see if we can avoid turning this post into an Xbox vs PlayStation vs Wii fireball of fury!
Microsoft vs Yahoo - post-match analysis
- 4 May 08, 08:58 GMT
A few hours ago the , not with a bang but a whimper. So with the game over, let's assess the winners and losers.
Microsoft
On the face of it, Microsoft certainly comes out of this pretty badly. It has huffed, and it has puffed, but instead of blowing Yahoo's house down, it has walked away meekly into the night, .
Did it realise, during the three months from bid to retreat, that Yahoo was not such a prize after all? In his letter to Jerry Yang, Steve Ballmer explains why he decided not to go hostile: "Our discussions with you have led us to conclude that, in the interim, you would take steps that would make Yahoo! undesirable as an acquisition for Microsoft."
He goes on to say that it is the threat of Yahoo outsourcing a key part of its business to Google - the tactic adopted by Jerry Yang a couple of weeks ago - which has really been the killer blow.
We've been outmanoeuvred, appears to be the message from Microsoft. A Machiavellian interpretation of the retreat is that Microsoft will sit and watch Yahoo's share-price plummet - and return with a lower offer at the end of the year.
But this episode hasn't been the finest hour for a company which prides itself on its strategic nous and clear communication.
Yahoo
No wonder Yahoo sounds jubilant. Here's Jerry Yang: "I am incredibly proud of the way our team has come together over the last three months."
Proud, too, no doubt that the tactics which have been derided by many have paid off in the short-term, preserving an independence that just about everyone thought was doomed.
All Mr Yang has to do now is convince his shareholders that it's worth enduring some short-term pain, in the form of a plunging share price, in return for the long-term gain of a resurgent Yahoo.
Oh, and having tacitly admitted that Google's technology is so superior to his own that he's handed over a key part of his business to their care, he needs to explain what Yahoo is all about - to his staff, customers and investors.
What a bright and sunny Sunday for those clever chaps at Google. Without spending a cent, they have stuck a spoke in the wheel of the Microsoft machine, and brought its efforts to mount a serious challenge in online advertising to a halt.
The only cloud in the sky is that the world has now woken up to the fact that Google is almost as dominant a player in web advertising as Microsoft is on the desktop - and that could mean a few knocks on the door from the regulators in the coming months.
So Google played a blinder, Yahoo was more adept in defence than in previous games, and Microsoft bottled it in front of goal. But I've a sneaking suspicion that we may get a rematch before the year is out.
Walking away...
- 4 May 08, 08:11 GMT
How mistaken was I?
I thought too much was at stake for Steve Ballmer, for Microsoft to walk away from Yahoo.
But he was speaking the truth to staff when he said on Thursday he wasn't afraid to ditch his pursuit of Yahoo.
So what does this mean?
For Microsoft it means it has to "go it alone" in the web landscape. It has to find a way to compete with Google - on search, on services, on advertising.
No-one doubts that Microsoft has the engineering talent to match any firm in the world - but can it be nimble enough? Can it turn good ideas into compelling products?
The $44bn it would have spent on Yahoo is now available to plough into products and ideas. With initiatives like on the horizon the company is beginning a process of trying to make itself relevant to 21st Century web users.
But this is Microsoft's last chance. It failed once to adapt to the web age. It cannot afford to fail again.
For Yahoo this brings relief all round. In the last few weeks Yahoo had done everything in its power to make the firm as unattractive to MS as it possibly could - including hopping into bed with Google to trial its rival's ad search technology.
Yahoo boss Jerry Yang, in a today, talks of the firm's "important transition". He knows that Yahoo has to make itself relevant to users once again.
Somewhere in the last few years Yahoo went from being the most important firm on the web to an also ran.
The company has already begun a process of - bringing together all of its services into one coherent whole.
I also think it would have been a painful process to integrate Yahoo, its staff and mindset, into Microsoft.
Yahoo is a much more open company than Microsoft; open in the sense of standards.
Mark Shuttleworth, the Ubuntu promoter, told me a few weeks ago that a combined MS/Yahoo would have been "healthy" for Microsoft.
"Talking to Microsoft employees I get the sense they realise they can't transform that company into a Windows-based company without killing it," he told me.
That change won't now happen. So perhaps Microsoft has missed an opportunity here to re-invent itself.
For Google it means jubilation: delight that they are now facing two firms with a smaller web footprint rather than a genuine single competitor.
The Mountain View company, I'm sure, will also say it is pleased that a firm with a poor track record with regards openness has not swallowed a major competitor.
No-one can ever say the world of the web is dull.
Poking fun at Facebook
- 2 May 08, 12:25 GMT
Whatever the problems over privacy, Facebook is still doing remarkably well in the UK. The latest figures from Nielsen show it's got 9.9 million UK members, almost twice as many as MySpace, so that dip at the beginning of the year seems to have been a blip.
But could ridicule do for Facebook? A 大象传媒 Three sketch about the true nature of friendship on the social network is funny, accurate - and becoming a big viral hit on . (Contains strong language.)
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit 大象传媒 Webwise for full instructions
And it comes just as many people are beginning to ask whether they really want to be in a place where they can be found and poked by virtual strangers - and have embarrassing moments from their past plastered all over the internet.
Facebook becoming mainstream enough to feature in a TV sketch show is obviously a sign of success - but remember the impact that Spitting Image had 20 years ago on the careers of some of the politicians it lampooned? If the idea that Facebook membership is for losers takes hold, then the crowds may melt away as quickly as they gathered.
Waiting for Ballmer
- 2 May 08, 08:15 GMT
Forget counting ballot papers for the local elections. The big result everyone is waiting for concerns .
And what everyone wants to know is: Will Microsoft make a decision and do something?
After setting a deadline of last weekend for Yahoo to agree to Microsoft's offer, reasonable people expected that MS would move quickly this week.
But there's been no word yet.
As my colleague Rory said on this morning: "Come on Microsoft, this is getting really tedious."
And why is everyone impatient?
It feels a little like the future of the web is on hold while MS makes up its mind what to do next.
Will our online future be decided by two companies (MS and Google) or three?
The Wall Street Journal is now a hostile bid today. Steve Ballmer told staff yesterday that a decision would be "in short order".
He also said MS wouldn't pay a dime more than he thought Yahoo was worth.
Few people, if any, think MS will walk away from this. Even though Ballmer on Thursday he was willing to drop the pursuit of Yahoo.
And the main reason that few commentators believe him is that this is Steve Ballmer's bid, as much as it is Microsoft's.
As Bill Gates prepares to step away from MS day to day, this is the defining action of the future Microsoft.
Like everyone else, I'm just hoping this defining action comes soon.
Facebook and privacy
- 1 May 08, 17:28 GMT
How worried are you about the amount of private and personal stuff you have posted on social networking sites? I've always been pretty relaxed - both because I'm very careful about how much information I give away, and because I think I know my way around privacy settings.
But an has made me think again. They set out to explore just how much data is accessible to developers who make applications for Facebook. What they found was that it was relatively simple to write an application which would give the developer access to lots of personal data - not just from those who've installed that application, but also from their list of Facebook friends.
The problem is a by-product of Facebook's decision a year ago to throw open its doors to outside developers. It was a move hailed as a master-stroke at the time, making Facebook a platform for all kinds of innovative new ideas which would benefit developers and the users, and give the social network an edge in its battle with MySpace.
A year on it's not looking so smart. For one thing, a ceaseless flow of new applications of varying quality has cluttered up Facebook. For another, the access to user data given to developers has only served to heighten controversy about privacy, the issue that has become an ever bigger worry for all users of social networks.
By contrast, MySpace was rather slower off the mark in opening up its platform But it exercises far greater control than Facebook over the applications that developers are now producing. For one thing, they all run off MySpace servers, for another the code of every application is inspected before it is allowed onto the site.
Now that users can adjust their privacy settings to limit the access to their data that is given to any application. But how many of us knew that - or do anything about it? I know I haven't.
For Web 2.0 businesses two principles seem to have become gospel over the last year - openness and collaboration with external software developers, and respect for the privacy of your users' data. The trouble is, as Facebook has discovered, they can be mutually incompatible.
The 大象传媒 is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
This is dot.life - a blog about technology from 大象传媒 News.
Rory Cellan-Jones is the 大象传媒's technology correspondent.
Maggie Shiels is the 大象传媒's tech reporter based in Silicon Valley.
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