Archives: December 2007

What Ooyala is Up To

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

Rather than carve out a safe little niche, Ooyala is essentially out to create an entirely new online video ecosystem.

A Legal Assault on CD Ripping? Don't Bet on It

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on December 29, Categories: Digital Music

There's a story making the rounds on various blogs this weekend (see, for example, this TechCrunch post) to the effect that the Recording Industry Assn. of America is planning a...

A Buggy Home Server

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on December 27, Categories: Microsoft

A few weeks ago, I gave a generally upbeat review to Microsoft's new Windows Home Server product. I may have been a bit premature. It turns out that the software...

How Long Will Advertising Remain More Effective Online Than Off?

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 26, Categories: Facebook, Google, advertising

A new study by Simmons, a unit of Experian Research Services, indicates that people who view TV ads online are way more engaged with those ads (and with the content,...

So Who Is the Heir Apparent for the Role of Heir Apparent at Cisco?

Posted by: Peter Burrows on December 21, Categories: Cisco

The company could probably field a baseball team of people who are credible candidates to take Chambers' place some day.

FTC Clears Google Purchase of DoubleClick

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 20, Categories: Google

Google just passed the first but not last hurdle in its $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick, as the Federal Trade Commission this morning gave the go-ahead on a 4-1 vote....

ZTE Handsets to Enter the U.S. Market

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

On Dec. 19, ZTE announced it will make its handsets available in the U.S. through MetroPCS. This could be just the first of many of such deals to come ZTE's way in the coming months.

Home Server Followup: Bad News, Good News

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on December 18, Categories: Microsoft

When I looked at my Hewlett-Packard MediaSmart Windows Home Server this morning, I noticed that only one of the blue disk drive lights was one. I fired up the Home...

OK, Music Subscription Fans -- Let's Hear Your Marketing Ideas

Posted by: Peter Burrows on December 18, Categories: digital media

So here's my challenge, subscription fans: how would you market your favorite service?...Evidently, these folks need your help.

News Flash: eBay Users Are a Cantankerous Bunch

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 17, Categories: eBay

The New York Times has discovered that buyers and sellers aren't all happy with eBay. Forgive me, but I think I've heard this before. I don't mean to belittle the...

FON's Muni Wi-Fi Moves

Posted by: Olga Kharif on December 17, Categories: wireless

Just as EarthLink is jumping out of the muni Wi-Fi market, FON is jumping in. The company has started seeding cities' key municipal buildings, such as libraries, with free Wi-Fi routers. Can it make this business pay for itself?

Google's Knol: No Wikipedia Killer

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 14, Categories: Google, Power of Us, Wikipedia

Funny how people always want to declare whatever Google announces as a [insert name here]-killer. Today, Google's new tool called "knol," which will give people a way to write "authoritative"...

Zumobi Goes Beta

Posted by: Olga Kharif on December 14, Categories: wireless

Zumobi, a spin-off from Microsoft, just debuted in Beta today. The company is trying a different, less intrusive approach to mobile advertising.

Nokia Deals Qualcomm a (Small) Blow

Posted by: Olga Kharif on December 12, Categories: Chips

On Dec. 12, the International Trade Commission made an initial determination stating that Nokia does not infringe on three Qualcomm patents related to a technology called GSM, used by the likes of AT&T and T-Mobile. What does this mean for Qualcomm and Nokia?

Social Networking Platforms: What a Mess

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 12, Categories: social networks

OK, maybe it's a glorious mess--all these platforms that began with Facebook last May eventually will shake out into something really useful. But I can't imagine that widget developers are...

Erase Your Search Tracks

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 11, Categories: Ask.com, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo

Most people probably don't realize that their online searches are tracked by search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft. With a new feature called AskEraser, Ask.com is hoping to...

TryPhone: Test-Driving Cell Phones, Virtually

Posted by: Olga Kharif on December 10, Categories: wireless

I just stumbled onto TryPhone.com, offering a cool new way to test-drive a cell phone without driving out to a carrier's store. The site has posted pictures of phones such as LG Muziq that are interactive. You can press the phone's buttons, scroll through digital menus, and get a feel for what operating the phone would be like.

LinkedIn Makes Its Move

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 10, Categories: LinkedIn

Not long ago, before Facebook stubbed its toe, a lot of people were assuming LinkedIn was about to get buried by the upstart social network. I never thought that was...

T-Mobile @ Home: New Users Magnet

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

T-Mobile just released some statistics on its @ Home program, launched last summer. And it appears that the service is helping T-Mobile grab customers from rivals.

Billions and Billions of Bytes

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on December 06, Categories:

In this week's Technology & You column, I take a look at Microsoft's new Windows Home Server which, among other things, can be a very good way to manage the...

iPhone's Application Surprises

Posted by: Olga Kharif on December 06, Categories: Apple Computer

iPhone users seem to like different mobile applications than consumers using regular cell phones or Personal Digital Assistants. Games, e-reader applications top the list of the most popular apps for the iPhone. What this could mean: Proliferation of touch-screen-enabled wireless devices could give a major boost to mobile gaming and mobile e-books/e-magazines industries.

Mark Zuckerberg Breaks Silence to Apologize

Posted by: Rob Hof on December 05, Categories: Facebook, social networks

Faced with a firestorm of protest over a part of its month-old ad strategy that raised some members' privacy hackles, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg finally broke his silence today to...

Motorola Kremlinology

Posted by: Stephen Wildstrom on December 04, Categories: Motorola

In the bad old days of the Soviet Union, when a party leader fell from grace all trace of his existence disappeared down the memory hole. A similar fate seems...

Cox's Bid = The End of Pivot?

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

Today, cable company Cox announced that it will bid for wireless spectrum in the upcoming 700 Mhz auction. That's very bad news for Sprint, and a sign that its cable joint venture could be falling apart.