Archive for the ‘Media’ Category
Was Winning on SOPA Bad for Tech?
I’ve spent a very interesting day at the Tech Policy Summit in Napa, but based on what I’ve heard, I’m beginning to think that the industry’s quick victory in killing the Stop Online Piracy Act this spring may be a long-term …
Why Apple is Wrong About Convertibles
On Apple’s last earnings call, CEO Tim Cook responded to a question on Windows 8 convertibles by saying, “You can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those aren’t going to be pleasing to the user.” At first glance, this …
DISH Hopper: What Goes Around Comes Around
Satellite TV operator DISH Network got a lot of attention when it announced its new Hopper DVR with a feature that “can automatically skip commercials in primetime TV – ABC, CBS, FOX and NBC in HD. Only on the Hopper. …
Verizon, LTE, and the iPhone’s Future
At PCmag.com, Sascha Segan argues that Verizon Wireless may be pushing customers toward Android phones rather than the iPhone because it so badly needs to move customers from its overburdened 3G data network to its new and lightly used LTE …
Immersive Social Games Bringing Families Together
The big discussion on social games recently is centered around games like Farmville and companies like Zynga, whose recent IPO generated a lot of attention. I see a much more interesting phenomenon taking place where new, cross-generational …
Yahoo!: Tactics Masquerading as Strategy
Last week on Yahoo!’s earnings call, CEO Scott Thompson outlined six points the company would pursue to return the company to a proper focus. When I looked at the list, they all made sense as operational principles or even action …
Antitrust: Apple Could Lose by Winning
A Cnet analysis by Declan McCullagh and Greg Sandoval of the antitrust suit against Apple and several book publishers concludes that the case against Apple seems particularly weak. But it rather curiously begins by citing the ultimate failure of previous antitrust …
Apple Will Sell Exactly 169,652,000 iPads in 2016
Need a lesson in the difference between precision and accuracy? Head over to the Gartner web site for the latest predictions of tablet sales over the next four years. With precision down to the nearest thousand–and I suspect that only …
Facebook is for Old People
“FACEBOOK IS STUPID AND FOR OLD PEOPLE“, my 12 year old daughter texted me yesterday after FaceBook offered to purchase Instagram. If you have teenage or pre-teen girls or boys, this demonstrative behavior isn’t anything new. What I …
Apple’s iPad Trademark Is Not in Danger
When I was an editor, I used to regularly receive form letters from corporate lawyers complaining about the use of “xerox” to describe copying or, my favorite, “realtor” rather than “Realtor®.” I threw them away, and never heard anything further. …
Why Microsoft Is Whipping Apple in TV
Farhad Manjoo at Slate has a good piece today on how Microsoft is already delivering many of the expected features of the tech world’s favorite unicorn, the Apple television. The combination of the Xbox and the Kinect sensor, together with …
Windows 8 Desktop on ARM Decision Driven by Phones and Consoles
There has been a lot written about the possibility of Microsoft not supporting the Windows 8 Desktop environment on the ARM architecture. If true, this could impact Microsoft, ARM and ARM’s licensees and Texas Instruments, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm are in …
Of Course Amazon Kindle Fire Cannibalizes the Apple iPad
One way I test and gauge insights is to engage in and monitor social media. It’s certainly not the only way, but it is one of many ways. One very interesting discussion I am monitoring is the Amazon Kindle Fire …
Hello, Tech.pinions
I am pleased to announce that, as one element of building a new high tech industry analyst firm, I will be joining Techpinions as a part of the columnist team and as partner. It is an honor to work with …
Was Android a Big Mistake for Google?
By many standards, Android is a huge success. It has become the top-selling smartphone operating system and is on a growth path to increase its dominance. But there is a significant question of whether it has done any good for …