Archives: May 2007

Which no-name startup is making a name for itself with Hollywood's anti-piracy police?

Posted by: Peter Burrows on May 31, Categories: video

It's called Vobile Inc. In reporting a story on the surprising progress in video fingerprinting technology, the company was mentioned time and again by sources--even by rivals--as having a technology...

What Steve and Bill Didn't Mention

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on May 31, Categories: Microsoft

I'm not going to try to mduplicate the saturation blog coverage of Bill Gates' and Steve Jobs' joint appearence at Dow Jones' D5: All Things Digital conference Wednesday. But both...

Google Gears Up to Take Web Services Beyond the Web

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 30, Categories: Amazon.com, Google, Microsoft, Web 2.0, Yahoo, eBay, web services

Google just can't seem to resist baiting the 800-pound gorilla in Redmond. With Google Gears, just announced minutes ago, it's providing Web developers a way to take their online services...

Yahoo!'s CTO Retires

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 30, Categories: Yahoo

Yahoo! just announced that its chief technology officer, Farzad Nazem, is retiring. It's a surprising move in one sense because Zod, as he was known to engineers at Yahoo, only...

Do You Use MetroPCS's Service?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 30, Categories: wireless

Do you use MetroPCS's service? If so, I would greatly appreciate your help with a story.

Green Data Centers Blossom

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 30, Categories: Data Centers

My colleague Rachael King is guest-blogging today on green data centers. Here's her blog: When 365 Main finishes building its new data center in Newark, CA, later this year, it...

R.I.P. Laura Ellen Hopper, Web Radio Pioneer

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 29, Categories: Web radio

If you're as big a fan of Web radio as I am, you'll want to tip your longneck beer bottle this evening to the memory of Laura Ellen Hopper,...

Deutsche Telekom Invests Into Jajah

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 29, Categories: VOIP

On May 29, Jajah announced it received an investment from Deutsche Telekom, the owner of T-Mobile USA. The investment marks the first time a telco has invested into a Web-calling company, and it's a major coup for Jajah.

Windows Genuine Annoyance (continued)

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on May 25, Categories: Microsoft

The craziness of Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) continues to amaze me. Today I was installing Windows Defender, Microsoft's so-so, but free, anti-spyware program on a PC. First, Microsoft's download...

Facebook Aims to Socialize All Online Services

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 24, Categories:

Facebook, which some of you may still think is a social networking service for college students, is graduating bigtime. Today, it's announcing that more than 65 developers from the likes...

Long Live Web Radio! (Maybe)

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 23, Categories: Web radio

A proposal from music industry representative SoundExchange promises lower royalty rates for smaller Web radio stations. If accepted, the deal will mean that these smaller Webcasters won't go out of business, at least until 2010.

Has Silicon Valley Jumped the Shark Again?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 22, Categories: IPOs, Innovation, Silicon Valley, TechCrunch, bubble

"Times are good, money is flowing, and Silicon Valley sucks." So says Mike Arrington at TechCrunch, and I think he's latching onto something that has been building for awhile: Despite...

Solar-Powered Phones: The Next Razr for Motorola?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 22, Categories: wireless

Motorola just received a patent for a solar-charging cell-phone screen. I believe a solar-powered phone could be a blockbuster, the next big product for Motorola.

Microsoft Buys aQuantive for--What?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 18, Categories: Microsoft

I must admit I'm still trying to get my head around what Microsoft will do with all the advertising properties inside aQuantive, which it just announced it will buy for...

DRM Going Away? Don't Hold Your Breath

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on May 17, Categories: Digital Music

Amazon's announcement of a digital rights management-free music store is another step in the demise of DRM. Still, the crumbling of content protection is looking more like the long, slow...

Searching for Cheap Gas

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 16, Categories: Web

With gas prices skyrocketing, I've found several Web sites helpful in finding the cheapest gas stations in my area.

New CFO at Yahoo!, Finally

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 15, Categories: Yahoo

Many people have been asking why it has taken Yahoo! so long to find a new chief financial officer to replace current CFO Sue Decker, who moved up in last...

Google's Annual Meeting: More Entertainment Than News

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 10, Categories:

I didn't hear much real news out of Google's annual meeting, though I did catch a glimpse of former star investment banker Frank Quattrone, yukking it up with David Drummond,...

New VoIP Player: Mobivox

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 10, Categories: VOIP

A new VoIP player, Mobivox, just jumped into the Web-calling market. The service, which was released in beta to 1,100 testers and is now launching publicly, enables you to import all your contacts from Skype and other services.

HDTV Madness?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on May 10, Categories: TV

Pioneer officially took the wraps off its new line of plasma HDTVs on May 9. It's impressive technology. Having seen pre-finalized versions at the Consumer Electronics Show, it's clear Pioneer...

802.11n or Bust?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on May 10, Categories: Networking

It's interesting how many companies continue to tout the upcoming 802.11n Wi-Fi standard as the best way to send video files around the home, even when there continues to be...

A New Era, of Phone Everywhere

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 09, Categories: Gadgets

Consumer electronics manufacturers increasingly believe that people will want to see calling capabilities in every device they touch. DiXCOM just came out with a navigation system that can also make wireless calls. And that's just the beginning of a call-enabled device explosion.

John Chambers Agrees to Stay at Cisco Until Next Decade

Posted by: Peter Burrows on May 09, Categories: Cisco

Given his desire to put the pedal to the metal, [Chambers] says Cisco directors asked him at a board meeting in recent days whether he was prepared to see this offensive through to its conclusion. “I committed to my board of directors that I'm in for the next three to five years as CEO and chairman."

SAP Caught Between Two Worlds

Posted by: Steve Hamm on May 08, Categories: software as service

SAP's going to have a hard time hopping on the software-as-service bandwagon without blowing up its $12.4 billion traditional software business in the process. That message came clear to me...

Turns out I wasn't first to think of Dell buying RadioShack

Posted by: Peter Burrows on May 04, Categories: Dell

After posting a story on why this merger might make sense, I got an e-mail from Current Analysis analyst Samir Bhavani. Turns out he's been publicly stating this opinion for...

Will Microsoft Really Buy Yahoo!?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 04, Categories: Google, Microsoft, Yahoo

So it appears [Update: or not--see below] from the stories in the New York Post and the Wall Street Journal. And usually where there's smoke, there's fire. But I wonder...

Confused by Virgin Mobile USA's S-1

Posted by: Olga Kharif on May 03, Categories: wireless

On May 1, Virgin Mobile USA filed an S-1 form, stating its intention to go public. Perusing the prospectus, I found a lot of things in there to confuse and worry me.

Constructive Challenges to DMCA

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on May 03, Categories: Power of Us

The flap at Digg over the posting of an HD-DVD encryption key has gotten more than enough attention. But no one seems to be talking about more practical ways to...

HD-DVD versus the world?

Posted by: Cliff Edwards on May 02, Categories: media

Lost in the whole Digg brouhaha, is whether backers of high-definition DVD formats are trying to fruitlessly stuff the genie back in the bottle. It's been a while now since...

Digg Users Revolt. Web 2.0's Moment of Truth?

Posted by: Rob Hof on May 02, Categories: Digg, Power of Us, Web 2.0

So a user on Digg posted an item that contained a code to hack HD-DVDs, and all hell broke loose. The folks who run Digg--er, I mean, the executives,...