Thursday, April 5
The TumblrTech CrunchBlake Robinson discovers something called tumblelog, which isn’t so different to a Weblog.
“Tumblr is a re-envisioning of tumblelogging, a subset of blogging that uses quick, mixed-media posts. The service hopes to do for the tumblelog what services like LiveJournal and Blogger did for the blog. The difference is that its extreme simplicity will make luring users a far easier task than acquiring users for traditional weblogging. Anytime a user sees something interesting online, they can click a quick “Share on Tumblr” bookmarklet that then tumbles the snippet directly. The result is varied string of media ranging links and text to pictures and videos that takes very little time and effort to maintain.”
What’s your opinion?
We have a date for the iPhoneDaily Tech
Nirav Sanghani has found out Apple’s release date for its iPhone.
“The expected launch date is the same day as Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco from June 11 to June 15. It is no surprise that the iPhone’s release date be the same date as the conference, with the original announcement of the phone occurring at the Macworld Expo.”
And you thought the early daylight savings chaos had passed…
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And you thought the early daylight savings chaos had passedTech Dirt
More predictions of the apocalypse, but with the clock.
“We all seemed to manage to survive the early daylight savings switch a few weeks ago, despite the predictions of aclockalypse. But, just when you thought everything was okay, you’d better start stockpiling water, canned goods and toilet paper, since older devices might shift an hour ahead on Sunday morning, since it’s the old date for the spring forward. So make sure your coffee pot is properly set, and heed the advice of USA Today to double-check those meeting times for a few weeks.”
What’s your opinion?
Wednesday, April 4
Trouble in Blogo-dise
Pink Slip
Maureen Rogers writes about high tech layoffs.
“For the past week or so, there’s been a disturbing ripple through the business-tech blogosphere concerning some abuse that Kathy Sierra of Creating Passionate Users. Up until this point, I was not familiar with this blog, although it is an A-list, important blog – especially for those developing technology products.
What’s your opinion?
Radio Shack exposed
Wall Street Journal Blogs
Bob Sechler’s blog tells the story of ID theft involving the retailer.
“RadioShack Corp. exposed “thousands” of its customers to identity theft when a store near Corpus Christi failed to properly protect sensitive data.”
What’s your opinion?
Tuesday, April 3
Microsoft CEO joins Linux foundation
IT Wire
Is Steve Ballmer off his rocker or has it taken a page from Benedict Arnold’s strategy?
“Ballmer was ecstatic about his appointment. ‘For a long time, Microsoft has supported the free and open source movement. I mean, come on, if we hadn’t been putting out such crap in the marketplace, how do you think you Linux guys would have got a toehold?’ he asked at a media conference held in Tegucigalpa, capital of the Honduras, this morning.”
What’s your opinion?
Tracking Microsoft’s money
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Todd Bishop is on the hunt for cash.
“So where is that cash balance today? In short, it’s at its lowest point in more than five years. But it’s still nothing to sneeze at, coming in at $28.9 billion as of Dec. 31. By comparison, Google’s balance of cash and marketable securities was $11.2 billion as of the same date, according to a regulatory filing.”
What’s your opinion?
Xerox acquires global imaging services company
Channel Maker
Kevin Fogarty has a scoop on Xerox.
“Global Imaging is a Tampa, Fla.-based company that focuses on the small- and medium-sized business (SMB) market through 21 regional subsidiaries and employs 4,500 people. Global’s president and chief operating offer will continue with the company, reporting to Jim Firestone, president of Xerox North America. Global carries products from Ricoh, Konica Minolta and Sharp, but does not currently carry Xerox. After the acquisition closed in May, Global will operate as a subsidiary of Xerox and will gradually add Xerox’ lines as well.”
What’s your opinion?
Monday, April 2
Office for the Mac in beta
Wired
Scott Gilbertson posts that Microsoft’s Office For the Mac 2008 has moved from alpha to private beta.
“Although the Mac version of Office will not use the Ribbon interface found in the new Office 2207 for Windows, the interface design in Office For Mac is clearly striving for the same goals – exposing previous hidden tools and making complex tasks simpler.”
What’s your opinion?
Google flush with laughs after porcelain prank
News.com
Steven Musil at Cnet is laughing with Google, not at them.
“Google said its ‘Toilet Internet Service Provider’ (TiSP) would be available in three speeds: Trickle, The No. 2, and Royal Flush. Google’s prank included an online installation guide, an FAQ and a press release quoting Google co-founder and President Larry Page.”
What’s your opinion?
The rules have changed
Jupiter Research
Mark Mulligan calls the Apple/EMI deal a game changing deal.
“It has been well documented that EMI was in relatively advanced stages of negotiation with a number of retail partners to sell content with DRM but that the partners baulked at the scale of the advances demanded by EMI. Clearly Apple and EMI have identified some common ground. Why were they so keen to do so?”
What’s your opinion?
March 30, 2007
The bottomless pit of e-mail
The Tech Chronicles
Verne Kopytoff says enough is enough with Yahoo e-mail.
“You’ll never have to delete e-mails again with Yahoo’s plans to offer unlimited e-mail storage. Starting in May, new and existing users will be able to stuff their in-boxes with as much as they want. No limits (unless you abuse the service by storing a lot of digital movies on it, for instance).”
What’s your opinion?
Dell and open source
Good morning Silicon Valley
John Murrell blogs about Dell possibly offering Linux desktops
“It took a little while to sink in, but Dell has finally absorbed the idea that it has customers clamoring for desktops and laptops pre-installed with the open-source Linux OS. When the company started soliciting customer suggestions through its IdeaStorm project in February, that demand zoomed to the top of the list, and while Dell indicated it was receptive, it didn’t move fast enough to suit the open-sorcerers”
What’s your opinion?
Is SAP imploding?
Tech Web
The headline says it all.
“Shai Agassi brought something fresh to SAP. Young and dashing, he could engage an audience of customers from a stage with the savvy of a marketing exec, yet he was foremost a very smart technologist.”
What’s your opinion?
March 29, 2007
Best Buy buys Speakeasy
Blendah Blog
The big box retailer is trying to be a one-stop shop for SMBs through its purchase of Speakeasy, according to this blogger.
“Best Buy bought Speakeasy on Tuesday for $97 million in another move to become the IT shop for small businesses.
Speakeasy offers broadband voice, data and IT services and will sit inside the Best Buy For Business Unit. Best Buy is aiming to be a one-stop shop for small businesses. If you add up Best Buy’s recent small business moves–coupled with its Geeksquad unit–and it appears the company is taking a detour to become an IT service provider of sorts.”
What’s your opinion?
Q1 winners: Apple, Novell, Oracle, Sun
The Chart
Ed Moltzen gauges this quarter’s tech winners and losers based on stock performance.
“The winners:
Apple Its shares have jumped from $86.29 to $93.24 in the first quarter. And just think: the iPhone and Leopard version of the Mac OS haven’t even launched yet.
Novell Its stock price is up about 12 percent for the quarter and the company is quietly making inroads in the Linux space while minimizing fallout from its alliance with Microsoft.
Oracle Shares of the software vendor jumped by about five percent during the first quarter on good earnings and acquisitions.
Sun Microsystems The company has quietly been laying the foundation for a business that is both hardware- and software-agnostic, with its new alliance with Intel, its continuing relationship with AMD, and the continuing game of footsie it is playing with the open source community. Sun’s stock price is up about 10 percent during the quarter. Think IBM 10 years ago.”
What’s your opinion?
Synnex Canada boss talks acquisition
CEO blog – Time Leadership
Jim Estill of Synnex Canada reflects on his company’s purchase of the Redmond Group of Companies earlier this week.
“I continue to learn. To grow, I need to have and rely on good people. I cannot do it all myself (which is my inherent nature). So I fight my impulses and ask for help.
The real work in an acquisition begins after it is completed (in this case April 30th). The key is to make it smooth for as many stakeholders as possible.”
What’s your opinion?
Knives are out for iPhone
Jupiter Research blogs
Michael Gartenberg links to Engadget which unearthed a comment from PC Magazine’s John Dvorak about Apple’s slim chances in the cell market. Remember, folks, you heard it here third. Don’t you just love blogs?
What’s your opinion?
March 28, 2007
What exactly is Tech Data trying to say?
Stock Market Beat
The distributor says it has “entered into the Third Amended And Restated Credit Agreement, an amendment to its Amended and Restated Credit Agreement dated as of May 2, 2003, as amended by a Second Amended and Restated Credit Agreement dated as of March 7, 2005, and as further amended prior to the date hereof,” which even William A. Trent, who is experienced in reading such documents, finds confusing. “Given that the associated material news was positive (an extension to the terms and lower interest rates and fees), we can’t imagine why they chose to obfuscate it,” he says.
What’s your opinion?
GPLv3 is starting to look seriously overdue
Linux-Watch
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols looks at the ongoing development of a new licence from the Free Software Foundation. “Now, I’m no lawyer, but boy do I have a lot of friends who are lawyers. Their informal consensus is that getting clauses into the GPLv3 that will block similar deals from happening in the future — while avoiding cutting legitimate software patent uses off at the knees — is going to be almost impossible,” he writes. “I have all the respect in the world for Eben Moglen, the chief legal mind behind the GPLv3. But, I’m willing to wager a small amount of money that he’d agree that finding a way to block future Novell/Microsoft-style patent deals has been extremely difficult. Actually, some of the legal eagles I’ve talked to think it’s impossible — they may be right.”
What’s your opinion?
Synnex’s PC Wholesale purchase gets rave review
The Motley Fool
Tom Taulli says the distributor’s latest deal should fit in nicely with its recent purchase of call center support provider Concentrix. “These acquisitions not only help to cement OEM relationships, but also bring higher margins — a godsend in the razor-thin world of IT distributors,” he writes. “Synnex’s acquisitive strategy is still in its early phases, so we’re likely to see further benefits as more synergies kick in.”
What’s your opinion?
NewCo rides high
Jupiter Research blogs
Analyst Emily Riley believes that the joint venture from NBC, NewsCorp, MSN, AOL and Yahoo could one day rival YouTube after some growing pains.
“It is certainly about time that the media giants start tackling these issues. After all, they do own the content. And come to think of it, they also many more long-standing relationships with massive TV oriented brand advertisers than Google.”
What’s your opinion?
Does this look sexy you?
ComputerWorld storage
ComputerWorld has archived 20 hardware designs from various vendors. If an external drive is what gets it done for you, you’ll enjoy this slideshow.
What’s your opinion?
March 26, 2007
Apple and Al Gore
Wired
Pete Mortensen blog about Apple going green
“For some time now, environmental activists have targeted Apple to change its practices. Last year, it actually happened. I was literally most of the way through a draft of an Earth Day story about Apple’s unwillingness to start a computer takeback and recycling program when Apple announced that…they were launching a computer takeback and recycling program.”
Cisco looks green
News.com
Even John Chambers talked about the environmentally-friendly subject recently.
“I think technology can enable many of the green innovations on a global basis,” he said. His own company, for example, has applied its networking devices to help cities like San Francisco, Amsterdam and Seoul manage their public transportation systems in a manner designed to boost efficiency and reduce emissions, he added.”
Some insight on the rumoured Motorola/Palm deal
Mobile Tracker
This blog details one reason why the rumoured Motorola/Palm deal was not announced this past Thursday.
“Rumors of a Palm takeover have gained ground, though insiders don’t believe that a deal is yet imminent. Acquisition rumors aren’t exactly a new thing for the company, but the volume has picked up in recent weeks. The list of possible suitors includes Motorola, though after that firm’s recent poor performance announcement it’s unlikely shareholders would approve of such a big buy. Palm’s [PALM] market cap is currently $2 billion.”
