Archives: November 2007

Google Goes It Alone on Spectrum Bid

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 30, Categories: Google, wireless

After leaving us months to speculate, Google just announced it will indeed bid in the auction for a piece of the 700 MHz spectrum, filing Dec. 3 with the FCC....

Reader Poll: What do you think of music subscription services?

Posted by: Peter Burrows on November 29, Categories: Digital Music

A few years back, there was lots of debate about whether the download store or the music subscription would win the day in digital music. The former offers outright ownership...

Why Did Verizon Wireless Open Its Network Now?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 27, Categories: wireless

Why did Verizon Wireless announce it'll open up its network now? There are several reasons, from trying to influence approval of the XM-Sirius merger to trying to lower prices in an upcoming wireless auction.

Roll Over Beethoven (and Tell Tschaikowsky the News)

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 27, Categories: Digital Music

Classical music lovers like myself are finally getting some respect in the digital world. One of the oldest companies in the music business, Deutsche Grammophon, now a division of Universal...

Space Data: Building Wireless Networks With Weather Balloons

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 21, Categories: wireless

Space Data has developed a new way to build wireless networks: with weather balloons. Sure, this approach seems out there. But the military is already using it.

Why Not Paper + Electrons

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 19, Categories: Amazon.com

Reader doog has an interesting comment on my colleague Rob Hof's post on Amazon.com's Kindle e-book reader: "Wake me up when the hardware costs no more than the price of,...

Google's Wireless Plans: Out of Favor With Analysts

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 19, Categories: wireless

Several financial analysts came out with reports today warning Google to back off from participation in the upcoming wireless airwaves auction on its own, without a partner.

Will Amazon.com's Kindle Spark the Future of Reading?

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 19, Categories: Amazon.com, books

I'm as interested as the next gadget watcher to see if Amazon can fulfill the sweeping promise Newsweek outlines for its Kindle e-book reader, coming out Monday. (BusinessWeek wrote about...

Google's High-Stakes Wireless Network Gambit

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 16, Categories: Google, wireless

Or should I just call it poker? With fresh speculation in the Journal today, as well as BusinessWeek, that Google may be preparing to go it alone in a bid...

Helio: Shifting Gears?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 15, Categories: wireless

Helio, the money-losing wireless service started by SK Telecom and EarthLink, appears to be changing its market tactics: The company may have stopped going after only the high-end of the wireless market.

Helloo!...Any Bad Cell Phones Out There?

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 15, Categories: wireless

Until recently, at least three or four of every 10 multimedia phones I've gotten to play around with were poorly designed. That's changed now, as Samsung, HTC and others have finally figured out how to tack music and video capabilities onto phones without making them too difficult to use.

Fake Larry Ellison (semi) Revealed!

Posted by: Steve Hamm on November 14, Categories: blogging

I was only semi enchanted with the Secret Diary of Steve Jobs blog. Steve is overexposed, to put it mildly, so why would anybody want more of him? But after...

Will Email Really Be the Next Social Network?

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 14, Categories: Facebook, Google, MySpace, social networks

That's what Saul Hansell suggests in his blog post about Google and Yahoo leveraging their email systems to create social networks. On the surface, it makes a lot of sense,...

Back to the Future at the FCC

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on November 09, Categories: media

The Federal Communications Commission, politicians, broadcasters, newspaper owners, and a variety of self-declared consumer groups are all devoting a tremendous amount of time and effort to a fight that looks...

The Facebook Backlash

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 08, Categories: Facebook

Wow, for an announcement that was supposed to explain how Facebook is worth $15 billion, the company's Social Ads debut the other day sure got a lot of negative reaction--not...

Coming Up: Wireless Rewards Programs

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 07, Categories: wireless

Until now, U.S. wireless carriers have done little to encourage customer loyalty. Well, that's changing, as Sprint Nextel is preparing to unveil a consumer rewards program.

Facebook Declares New Era for Advertising

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 06, Categories: Facebook

As I write, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is announcing its long-awaited ad strategy. One piece is Beacon, a system that will let the social network's members reveal their purchases, eBay...

Google's Android: A Wish List

Posted by: Olga Kharif on November 06, Categories: Google

Google-lead Open Handset Alliance is hoping its efforts will result in a slew of new, innovative applications and services for cell phones. The alliance's Web site posts some new applications ideas -- from kids. But what kind of applications would you like to see? What's on your wish list?

No Gphone, but Google Announces Mobile Platform

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 05, Categories: Google

After months of speculation, Google has finally announced--no, not the much-anticipated Gphone, but an operating system for mobile phones. Andy Rubin, Google's director of mobile platforms, whose company Android that...

Confirmed: MySpace Joining Google's OpenSocial

Posted by: Rob Hof on November 01, Categories: Facebook, Google, Microsoft, MySpace, Yahoo, social networks

Now, it's getting interesting: News Corp.'s MySpace is joining Google's just-announced OpenSocial program. That's Google's shot at one-upping Facebook in the race to get outside software developers to create programs...