NYRblog - Blogging, Now and Then - The New York Review of Books

An intriguing historical review; read the full piece

The most gossipy blogs take aim at public figures, combining two basic ingredients, scurrility and celebrity, and they deal in short jabs, usually nothing longer than a paragraph. They often appeal to particular constituencies such as Hollywood buffs (Perez Hilton), political junkies (Wonkette), college kids (Ivy Gate), and lawyers (Underneath Their Robes). Politically they may lean to the right (Michelle Malkin) or to the left (Daily Kos). But all of them conform to a formula derived from old-fashioned tabloid journalism: names make news.

How new, then, is bloggery? Should we think of it as a by-product of the modern means of communication and a sign of a time when newspapers seem doomed to obsolescence? It makes the most of technical innovations—the possibility of constant contact with virtual communities by means of web sites and the premium placed on brevity by platforms such as Twitter with its limit of 140 characters per message. Yet blog-like messaging can be found in many times and places long before the Internet.

NYRblog - Blogging, Now and Then - The New York Review of Books

Technology Review: Banks Aim to Secure Customers' PCs

Sign of the times

Cybercriminals have had great success over the past year hitting banks where their security is the weakest--on their customers' PCs. In 2009, online fraud losses doubled, according to FBI data.

Now banks are starting to hit back, focusing not only on the security of their own systems, but of their customers' systems. Last week, security firm Trusteer announced it would provide a service to banks that lets them remotely analyze computers belonging to customers who have been hacked.

Technology Review: Banks Aim to Secure Customers' PCs

The iPad App Derby Gets Under Way - NYTimes.com

See the full article for more iPad app projections

“We have actually developed a tablet-based interface that redesigns the core screen and the reading experience,” said Ian Freed, vice president for Kindle at Amazon. “Our team had some fun with it.”

The Kindle app for the iPad, which Amazon demonstrated to a reporter last week, allows readers to slowly turn pages with their fingers. It also presents two new ways for people to view their entire e-book collection, including one view where large images of book covers are set against a backdrop of a silhouetted figure reading under a tree. The sun’s position in that image varies with the time of day.

The iPad App Derby Gets Under Way - NYTimes.com

Link by Link - Advising Recovery Board on Offering Clear Data - NYTimes.com

Glad to see this

It was just announced that Mr. Tufte (pronounced tuff-TEE) would be going to Washington. Though often cast as a free-floating information guru, Mr. Tufte has a highly specific mission: on March 5, he was appointed by President Obama to a panel to advise the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board, which monitors the way the $787 billion in the stimulus package is being spent.

It’s hard to know under these circumstances exactly whom should be offered “good luck” wishes.

“I’m not naïve about it, but I’m enthusiastic and hopeful,” Mr. Tufte said in a telephone interview. “The only way to find out if the cynical view of Washington is right is by doing it.”

Link by Link - Advising Recovery Board on Offering Clear Data - NYTimes.com

A Cold War Spy Craft, the Updated U-2 Dodges Retirement - NYTimes.com

An incredible ROI case study

In some ways, the U-2, which flew its first mission in 1956, is like an updated version of an Etch A Sketch in an era of high-tech computer games.

“It’s like after all the years it’s flown, the U-2 is in its prime again,” said Lt. Col. Jason M. Brown, who commands an intelligence squadron that plans the missions and analyzes much of the data. “It can do things that nothing else can do.”

One of those things, improbably enough, is that even from 13 miles up its sensors can detect small disturbances in the dirt, providing a new way to find makeshift mines that kill many soldiers.

A Cold War Spy Craft, the Updated U-2 Dodges Retirement - NYTimes.com

Device promises to help the overloaded - The Boston Globe - end

As with OneNote and OneNote Web App

Whether Springpad attracts a critical mass of customers, Bajarin said, the information overload spawned by the Internet will demand Web-friendly organizers.

“Ultimately,’’ Bajarin said, “these types of applications, like Springpad and Evernote, are just forerunners of a great number of Web-based applications that will allow us to have all our personal digital stuff in the cloud and be able access it anywhere.’’

Device promises to help the overloaded - The Boston Globe - end

Microsoft ranks No. 1 in patents [TechFlash]

A timely snapshot

Microsoft's business is under attack by Google, Apple and others. But there's one place where the software giant still rules supreme: Patents. According to the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Microsoft's patent portfolio ranked the strongest in the software industry for the third straight year. According to the report, Microsoft was way out in front of its competition, with 2,918 patents granted last year. The next closest competitor in the software group was Oracle, which showed just 338 patents.

In a blog post, Microsoft's Bart Eppenauer wrote that the IEEE's ranking -- along with other recent surveys from Forbes and the Patent Scoreboard showing Microsoft' strong patent position -- indicates that the software giant's "focus on high-quality patent protection is working."

Microsoft ranks No. 1 in patents

Novell Rejects Elliott’s Bid as ‘Inadequate’ - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com

Looking for a higher price

Novell, a maker of business software, said Saturday that it had rejected Elliott Associates’ unsolicited $2 billion takeover bid as “inadequate,” saying the hedge fund’s offer “undervalues the company’s franchise and growth prospects.”

Novell also said its board was considering alternative ways to increase its value to its shareholders, including a stock buyback, a special cash dividend, joint ventures and alliances with other companies, a recapitalization and an outright sale of itself.

Novell Rejects Elliott’s Bid as ‘Inadequate’ - DealBook Blog - NYTimes.com

Reading and the Web - Texts Without Context - NYTimes.com

A timely round-up of some important themes

WORRYING ABOUT the public’s growing attention deficit disorder and susceptibility to information overload, of course, is hardly new. It’s been 25 years since Neil Postman warned in “Amusing Ourselves to Death” that trivia and the entertainment values promoted by television were creating distractions that threatened to subvert public discourse, and more than a decade since writers like James Gleick (“Faster”) and David Shenk (“Data Smog”) described a culture addicted to speed, drowning in data and overstimulated to the point where only sensationalism and willful hyperbole grab people’s attention.

Now, with the ubiquity of instant messaging and e-mail, the growing popularity of Twitter and YouTube, and even newer services like Google Wave, velocity and efficiency have become even more important.

Reading and the Web - Texts Without Context - NYTimes.com

Business & Technology | An abundance of free Wi-Fi across the Northwest | Seattle Times Newspaper

See the full article for more details

Wi-Fi, on the other hand, has never been more abundantly free, with tens of thousands of U.S. stores, airports, and other venues providing Internet access often at higher speeds than 3G networks wherever you can find a seat. Outside the U.S., it has been harder to find free Wi-Fi, but that's changing, especially in Europe.

Wi-Fi's biggest problem is that it's not everywhere. But it's generally convenient. Options for free Wi-Fi in the Northwest and across America have exploded in the past several weeks, mostly because of McDonald's decision to go free. But there are plenty of other options, too.

Business & Technology | An abundance of free Wi-Fi across the Northwest | Seattle Times Newspaper

Business & Technology | 'Bizarre' tanker twist: Russians will bid against Boeing for Air Force contract | Seattle Times Newspaper

Times have changed…

Here's the latest twist in the Air Force tanker saga: The Russians are coming.

Russia's government-owned aerospace company will announce Monday it is competing against Boeing for the $40 billion refueling-tanker contract, a Los Angeles attorney for the company said Friday.

Business & Technology | 'Bizarre' tanker twist: Russians will bid against Boeing for Air Force contract | Seattle Times Newspaper

Desperate times for Palm | Relevant Results - CNET News

A stark Palm reality check

There's really no way to sugarcoat this: Palm is heavily leveraged in a fiercely competitive market and unable to generate interest for a well-received product as it burns cash amid mounting inventory. That's a whole lot of bad stuff to deal with at one time.

Palm's stock was down 26 percent in midday trading Friday. Financial analysts are recommending that their clients dump the stock while there's still time. Two went so far as to cut their target price for the company's stock to $0, essentially declaring it worthless.

Desperate times for Palm | Relevant Results - CNET News

In Bid to Sway Sales, Cameras Track Shoppers - NYTimes.com

Your actions will be captured on video, inside and outside

Many stores and the consultants they hire are using the gear not to catch shoplifters but to analyze and to manipulate consumer behavior. And while taping shoppers is legal, critics say it is unethical to observe people as if they were lab rats. They are concerned that the practices will lead to an even greater invasion of privacy, particularly facial recognition technology, which is already in the early stages of deployment.

In Bid to Sway Sales, Cameras Track Shoppers - NYTimes.com

Apple Swears iPad Partners to Secrecy - BusinessWeek

Check the full article for a summary of Apple’s paranoia++.  Evernote rejected – I’m guessing that means Apple plans to do a similar app itself; maybe they’ll retroactively sue Evernote first…

Evernote, a maker of software that helps users organize and store documents, was similarly rejected and is nevertheless working on a version of its app for the iPad. "We've never actually touched one," says Evernote CEO Phil Libin. Evernote sells an app for the iPhone and has been working on a version for the iPad since before Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs unveiled the device on Jan. 27.

Apple Swears iPad Partners to Secrecy - BusinessWeek

Plans for broadband: Pipe dream | The Economist

Room for improvement

If America’s facilities-based system were really working, the country would at the very least enjoy first-rate broadband in dense urban areas where providers are most likely to recoup their investments quickly. Yet in February the Saïd Business School at Oxford and the Universidad de Oviedo released a study, funded by Cisco, that produced a broadband quality score based on bit volume and speed, mapped against current and probable future applications. Chicago, America’s best-performing city, ranked 26th, below Sofia and Bucharest. No American city was judged “ready for tomorrow”. Among countries America ranked 16th, which is roughly where it falls on almost any available measure of broadband penetration or quality. That is not good enough.

Plans for broadband: Pipe dream | The Economist

When Couples Fight on Facebook, Everyone Knows the Score - NYTimes.com

Sign of the times…

It’s a question being asked a lot these days as couples, who once had to leave the house to fight in public, take their arguments onto Facebook. Whether through nagging wall posts or antagonistic changes to their “relationship status,” the social networking site is proving to be as good for broadcasting marital discord as it is for sharing vacation photos. At 400 million members and growing, Facebook might just replace restaurants as the go-to place for couples to cause a scene.

As score-settling on Facebook has grown commonplace, sites like Lamebook have begun documenting the worst spats (which also happen to be the most humorous). On Facebook itself, people can join several groups with names like “I Dislike People/Couples Who Argue Publicly on Facebook.”

When Couples Fight on Facebook, Everyone Knows the Score - NYTimes.com

Google's fast pipe to Asia almost ready | Relevant Results - CNET News

Investing beyond short-term politics

Google and a group of telecommunications companies are about ready to turn on a fast Internet cable running under the Pacific Ocean from the U.S. to Japan, increasing bandwidth by about 20 percent and giving Google its own connection to Asia.

The Unity Consortium, which consists of Google, Bharti Airtel, Global Transit, KDDI, Pacnet, and SingTel, has nearly completed the testing of the $300 million project. Internet users in Asia will start seeing faster Internet speeds over the next several months from the new cable, which has the potential to create a 7.68Tbps (terabits per second) connection under the Pacific.

Google's fast pipe to Asia almost ready | Relevant Results - CNET News

Viacom, Google air dirty laundry in court docs | Media Maverick - CNET News

Turning into a case study on things better not expressed in discoverable content contexts

But in the 100-page document filed by Google, perhaps not surprisingly, the search engine tells a different story. Viacom is painted as a media giant trying to play it both ways: demanding that YouTube take down videos even while third parties were uploading Viacom content on the entertainment giant's behalf. More intriguingly, the parent company of MTV and Paramount Pictures was at one point interested in acquiring the video-sharing site, according to the documents.

"We believe YouTube would make a transformative acquisition for MTV Networks/Viacom that would immediately make us the leading deliverer of video online, globally," according to an internal Viacom slide that Google filed with the court.

Viacom, Google air dirty laundry in court docs | Media Maverick - CNET News

Apple Races to Strike Content Deals Ahead of iPad Release - WSJ.com

Hmm…

Apple has narrowed the device's scope. It has put on hold its idea to offer TV subscriptions that would be viewable through the iPad, because few media companies were interested. Instead, Apple is discussing dropping the price of TV shows to 99 cents from the $1.99 and $2.99 charged for most shows on its iTunes store, said people familiar with the situation.

Apple hasn't yet reached a deal with many major TV producers on the price cut, these people said. Some are concerned a price cut could hurt their existing businesses, these people said, including jeopardizing the tens of billions of dollars in subscription fees they are paid by cable and satellite companies for their traditional TV networks.

Apple Races to Strike Content Deals Ahead of iPad Release - WSJ.com

Google executives called YouTube a 'pirate' site - San Jose Mercury News

That was before YouTube’s de-evil-ification through acquisition, of course

Google executives referred to YouTube as a "rogue enabler of content theft," whose "business model is completely sustained by pirated content" in internal communications before going ahead with the 2006 purchase of the video site, according to documents unsealed today in Viacom's $1 billion copyright lawsuit against Google.

As part of its lawsuit, Viacom charged in a motion for summary judgment filed today in U.S. District Court in New York that the Mountain View Internet giant "abandoned its own anti-piracy practices and instead embraced YouTube's illegal business model."

Google executives called YouTube a 'pirate' site - San Jose Mercury News

Al's Journal : The Roots of Denial

A timely reality check

"In every case, they denied the severity of the problem and said the science was uncertain," Oreskes said. "It was always the same argument. They always used the tobacco strategy and said it would be wrong for the government to interfere with the marketplace. It was all about using this play from the tobacco playbook."

We know the tactics, funders and mission of climate crisis deniers. It is our job to combat and debunk their skepticism at every turn. Incidentally, Oreskes has an important book that will be published soon, titled Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming.

Al's Journal : The Roots of Denial

I, Cringely » Blog Archive » Is There a Google News Blacklist? - Cringely on technology

Check the full post and ponder the implications

My relationship with Google News has always run hot and cold. No make that cold and tepid. From the very beginning of Google News as an experiment back in 2001, they refused to index my work, which they said was my fault, not theirs (“they” being an algorithm attached to an e-mail box, of course). But new evidence has recently come to light suggesting to me that Google News has an actual blacklist.

I, Cringely » Blog Archive » Is There a Google News Blacklist? - Cringely on technology

The Windows Phone 7 app platform: One slide says it all | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

See the full post for more details

A picture is worth a thousand words. This slide from Windows Phone 7 team member Charlie Kindel’s talk at Mix  — which shows all of the various elements of Microsoft’s Windows 7 phone app platform in architectural diagram form — provides a quick overview of what the Softies are telling developers and designers this week about the company’s next-gen mobile platform. (Click on the slide below to enlarge.)

The Windows Phone 7 app platform: One slide says it all | All about Microsoft | ZDNet.com

FT.com / Technology - Facebook becomes bigger hit than Google

Sign of the times

Social networking website Facebook has capped a year of phenomenal growth by overtaking Google’s popularity among US internet users, with industry data showing it has scored more visits on its home page than the search engine.

In a sign that the web is becoming more sociable than searchable, research firm Hitwise said that the two sites accounted for 14 per cent of all US internet visits last week. Facebook’s home page recorded 7.07 per cent of traffic and Google’s 7.03 per cent.

FT.com / Technology - Facebook becomes bigger hit than Google

Expect fireworks Thursday in Viacom vs. Google | Media Maverick - CNET News

Perhaps fodder for a Google TV reality TV mini-series

Viacom filed a $1 billion copyright complaint three years ago against Google, accusing the search engine of profiting from and encouraging copyright infringement on YouTube. Google denied the allegations and said the Digital Millennium Copyright Act protects the company and all Internet service providers from liability for infringing activity by users. On Thursday, we'll get to see what kind of documentation the two companies possess to support their claims.

Sources close to the case said in October that information cropped up during the discovery process that is "potentially embarrassing" to both sides.

Expect fireworks Thursday in Viacom vs. Google | Media Maverick - CNET News

Google and Partners Seek Foothold in the Living Room - NYTimes.com

More Google TV info

Google’s efforts to break into television advertising date back three years. Through a program called Google TV Ads, the company sells advertising on a handful of satellite and small cable television systems, as well as some cable networks. Google says thousands of advertisers have signed up for the program, but analysts say they believe the amount of revenue generated is too small to have a significant impact on Google’s overall business.

The partners will face a crowded field. In addition to the makers of traditional cable and satellite set-top boxes, Cisco Systems and Motorola, many others have entered the game, including Microsoft, Apple, TiVo and start-up companies like Roku and Boxee, which already stream video from Netflix, MLB.com and other Web sites directly to television sets. Yahoo is also promoting a TV platform that uses small software programs called widgets to use certain Web services.

Google and Partners Seek Foothold in the Living Room - NYTimes.com

Google Working With Intel, Sony, Logitech on TV Technology - WSJ.com

Interesting times

Google Inc. has lined up some big partners—including Intel Corp. and Sony Corp.—in the Internet giant's recent quest to move its technology into the living room, people familiar with the situation say.

The joint effort, which is in its preliminary stages, includes software to help users navigate among Web-based offerings on television sets and serve as a platform for other developers to target in creating new programs, these people say. The technology could be included with future TVs, Blu-ray players or set-top boxes, they added.

Google Working With Intel, Sony, Logitech on TV Technology - WSJ.com