Techno-News Blog

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Creative Strategies analyst Tim Bajarin explains how Amazon could sell a $249 Android tablet as a profitable e-commerce exercise. Amazon.com’s forthcoming Google Android tablet continues to be a hot topic among tech media and pundits. One of the popular memes surrounding the machine is that the e-commerce giant could find a way to challenge Apple’s iPad by severely undercutting it on price. How severe? Perhaps by as much as half the starting price of the $500 base model iPad 2.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Amazon-Content-to-Spur-251-Android-Tablet-Analyst-691700/?kc=rss

by the BBC

Amazon has launched a browser-based version of its Kindle eBook application called the Kindle Cloud Reader. The software is optimised for iPad tablets, but directs customers to Amazon’s own eBook store instead of using Apple’s purchasing system. This avoids the 30 percent charge on in-app purchases levied by Apple. The launch follows recent changes to Apple’s terms that forced Amazon and others to remove direct purchasing links in their native iPad programs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14473893

By Dave Lee, BBC

Web users have grown familiar with the internet’s many top-level domains (TLDs) – such as the geographic .uk and .ru, and the generic .com and .net. The latter category in particular has grown rapidly with the addition of extra variants including .biz and .net, as well as the soon to launch .xxx – intended as the must-have suffix for any sex industry website. Some industry watchers argue that domain names have less importance in today’s world of social-network sharing. Others believe that a good URL means as much to a website as a prestigious street address does to a top department store – it is a sign of status, power and success.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/click_online/9521983.stm

by the BBC

A total of 22 fake Apple stores have been uncovered in one Chinese city. Authorities in Kunming began searching out the copycats after pictures of one convincing replica were circulated on the web. An early search found five fake stores, two of which were shut down for trading without a licence. Now, according to Chinese trade officials, 22 have been found unlawfully using Apple’s brand and logo.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14503724

By Catrin Nye, BBC Asian Network

With Twitter becoming more and more popular, there’s now a drive to succinctly summarise a hot topic with the perfect hashtag. Some of the more obvious hashtags to trend on Twitter recently are #hackgate, referencing the News of the World hacking scandal, and #1yeartogo, for Olympics tweets. Other, slightly less obvious, big hitters have been #thingswelearnedontwitter to mark little snippets of Twitter wisdom like “typing coherently in 140 characters or less is an art form” and “people really like to take pictures of their food”. #getsonmynerves has also been popular. In the UK, #stayonyourfeet proved to be one of the more random Twitter hits of the year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-14400398

By Fiona Graham, BBC News

“Water availability is gradually declining. Even 30 years ago we had probably twice as much water as we have now.” Glenn Schur has been farming for 30 years. His father first moved to the plains around Plainview, Texas in the late 1940s, and after graduating from college Mr Schur returned home to work on the farm he now owns. Almost half of the property’s 1,800 acres are given over to cotton production, the rest is divided between grain sorghum, wheat, seed crops and livestock. Times are hard for Texan farmers. The state is in the grip of a severe drought, and there has been no rain in Plainview for nearly a year.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14392244

by the BBC

The sister of Facebook co-founder, Mark Zuckerberg, has left the company to set up her own “social” business. Randi Zuckerberg was director of marketing for the social networking site and has worked there for the last six years. A Facebook spokesman said: “We can confirm Randi has decided to leave to start her own company. We are all grateful for her important service.” Technology blog All Things Digital printed her resignation letter. It said she was leaving to start a “new media firm to help companies become more social” called RtoZ Media.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/14417937

by the BBC

Cyber conmen are cashing in on interest surrounding the Pottermore website. Through Pottermore, JK Rowling will release more stories and background from the world of Harry Potter. Pottermore officially opens in October, and scammers are selling fake accounts for the site that claim to give fans early access. They are also using search engine poisoning to direct Potter fans to sites that are seeded with viruses and other malicious programs.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14418007

by the BBC

20-years-ago a modest British scientist launched his new invention. At the time, almost no-one noticed but it has since revolutionised our lives. Tim Berners-Lee called his new invention the “world-wide-web”. Richard Westcott has been taking a look back at the technology that went on to change the world.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-14430076

by Will.I.Am, Huffington Post

Close your eyes and think about today. Think about the United States of America. Think about the state of education. Think about the state of job creation. Think about the state of mind we are in. Think about what our country might look like in 20 years. Now think about and wonder why and who and when and what it’s going to take for Detroit not to turn into a slum. What is it going to take for my niece and her friends to have the best education? And your nephew to graduate and not just get a job, but have a career? I’m writing this on my laptop and you’re probably reading it on your phone or tablet, and none of the stuff we are actually buying “regardless” of a recession is made in America. Technology is recession proof and most kids are not dreaming of being programmers, scientists or engineers.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william/science-education_b_920125.html

by Christopher Mims, Technology Review

Ever since Google announced that its Android phones would be equipped with a “digital wallet” that allows users to pay for things simply by touching their phone to a pad, interest in our wallet-free future has taken off. Long in use in Asia and especially Japan, the enabling technology, Near Field Communication, has allowed users to more or less completely replace credit cards with phones—yet the technology has languished in the U.S. That delay has dragged on so long that at least one competing, not to mention superior, technology has reached maturity. Manufactured by Fujitsu under the trade name PalmSecure, it’s a system that requires no hardware on the user side. If you’ve got hands and you can wave them in front of a detector, you can use it to make purchases.  PalmSecure is a kind of identification / security scheme that falls under the umbrella of biometrics.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27057/?p1=blogs

By Erica Naone, Technology Review

When smart phones first took off, many software companies figured people might want to view files on the small screens, but few thought anyone would use them for creating, editing, and commenting on documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. “We were proven wrong,” says Raju Vegesna of Zoho, a company that offers online office tools. Businesses are demanding things like spreadsheet and document editing tools that work anywhere, on any device. In response, large and small companies are now providing cloud-based office productivity applications for smart phones and tablets.

http://www.technologyreview.com/business/38171/?p1=BI

by Christopher Mims, Technology Review

Quick, which tech powerhouse’s flagship mobile product came out dead last in a systematic survey of the openness of eight open-source software projects? You’d be forgiven for saying “Apple,” considering that the Cupertino-based company makes no bones about locking down its mobile iOS and app store tighter than a bicycle left outdoors in Manhattan. But it turns out that Google, which has become increasingly “meh” with regard to its famous mantra in direct proportion to its growth and profitability, is now the home of the least open open-source project evaluated: Android.

http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/mimssbits/27060/?p1=blogs

By: Clint Boulton, eWeek

Google bolsters both its search user interface and search ads for Google.com on the iPad and Android 3.1 “Honeycomb” tablets. Google’s search experience on tablets has been pretty good to date. Google search on the immensely successful Apple iPad has been a breeze. The virtual keyboard on slates running Google’s Android “Honeycomb” operating system is wide and evenly spaced, certainly better than that of any smartphone.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Search-Engines/Google-Search-Ads-Jazzed-Up-for-Tablets-655589/?kc=rss

By: Nicholas Kolakowski, eWeek

Apple’s iPad rated highest among tablets in consumer satisfaction, according to a new study from IHS. The research firm asked 1,404 users whether they would recommend their tablet to friends or family members. On a scale of 0 to 10 (with 10 being the strongest recommendation), those surveyed gave Apple’s iPad an 8.8, followed by Zenithink (a Chinese manufacturer) with 8.75, Samsung with 8.5 and Archos and Motorola with 8.4. “With the iPad dominating tablet sales in the United States and worldwide,” Rhoda Alexander, director of monitor and tablet research at IHS, wrote in a July 29 statement, “this high level of consumer satisfaction commanded by Apple represents a major barrier to entry for new competitors.”

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Desktops-and-Notebooks/Apple-iPad-Tops-Consumer-Satisfaction-Ratings-Report-782171/?kc=rss

By: Darryl K. Taft, eWeek

Google has acquired more than 1,000 patents from IBM in a move to bolster its patent portfolio as the search giant girds for battle over Android. As first reported by the SEO by the Sea blog, on July 11 and 12, Google recorded the assignment of 1,029 granted patents from IBM covering a range of topics, including relational databases, object-oriented programming and business processes. The patents also cover such things as “the fabrication and architecture of memory and microprocessing chips, to other areas of computer architecture including servers and routers as well,” said Bill Slawski, author of the SEO by the Sea blog.

http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Application-Development/What-Google-Wants-With-All-Those-IBM-Patents-431023/?kc=rss

By Dominic Basulto, Washington Post

Two seemingly unrelated events — Google’s launch of its new social network Google+ and the decision by the U.S. Postal Service to target 3,700 of its branches for potential closure — may have more in common than you think. Together, they are representative of the fundamental changes that are taking place within our modern communication networks. The changing nature of the way that we communicate with each other should have network and information theory gurus salivating at the prospect of a new, grand experiment. It makes sense that, as the physical nodes of our communication network begin to disappear forever, we are rushing to fill them with new digital nodes. It is a search for meaning in our social lives. If all this is starting to sound a lot like a digitally updated version of the bestseller Bowling Alone, maybe there’s a reason. As a society, we are moving further and further away from messages and communication, and more towards pure information, delivered to whomever wants to receive it.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/innovations/post/the-end-of-communication-as-we-know-it/2010/12/20/gIQAtgF6eI_blog.html

By Associated Press

AT&T Inc., Verizon Communications Inc. and four other telecom companies are offering a proposal to overhaul an $8 billion federal phone subsidy program in order to pay for high-speed Internet access in rural and other underserved areas. They say the plan, which was filed with the Federal Communications Commission on Friday, would bring broadband service to nearly all Americans within five years. The proposal is one of dozens the FCC will likely receive as it seeks to bring the subsidy program, called the Universal Service Fund, into the digital age. But the new plan is significant since it has the backing of six major companies that are among the largest recipients of federal dollars to provide phone service in rural and poor areas.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/phone-companies-present-plan-to-overhaul-phone-subsidy-program-to-pay-for-rural-broadband/2011/07/29/gIQAaXqqhI_story.html

by Kathleen Pierce, Boston Globe

“This is a generation of kids that have learned to communicate, search and purchase on very small devices, like mobile phones,’’ said James McQuivey, Forrester Research media analyst. “This year is a guinea pig year, next year the move will be en masse.’’ The trends are already striking. Forrester Research projects that 15.5 million e-readers will be sold this year, a 50 percent increase over last year. While the firm does not break out sales by age, children are a growing customer base. When Barnes & Noble launched a digital library for children last October, it had 120 picture book titles; today it has 570, including classics such as Curious George and Corduroy. Similarly, publisher HarperCollins reports that young adult e-books have surged 125 percent year over year.

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2011/07/30/young_readers_devouring_e_books/

By Christina Bonnington, WIRED

Our notebooks, ultrabooks and desktop PCs are all getting thinner — thin enough that Kate Moss in her heroin-chic heyday could have sported something like the 13-inch MacBook Air down the runway and it wouldn’t have overwhelmed her almost nonexistent frame. It’s no surprise. We’ve been seeing computers slim down ever since those giant room-sized computers that spawned the digital age, and the introduction of the first PCs in the decades that followed. But for a while, we were continually adding features such as hard drive space, optical drives, SD card slots to our notebooks and PCs. Now, as storage migrates toward online servers, and media is more likely to be streamed rather than viewed from a DVD or Blu-ray disc, many of those onboard features are shrinking down, or getting nixed altogether.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/gaming.gadgets/07/28/future.computing.thinner.wired/index.html?hpt=te_bn14

By David Goldman, @CNNMoneyTech

While Apple is setting records with its iPad and iPhone, the iPod is sinking fast. Apple sold just 7.5 million iPods in its most recent quarter. It was the lowest since the fall of 2005, when the iPod was just 4 years old. Unit sales fell 20% from a year ago and revenue from those sales dropped 15%. It’s still a lucrative business for Steve Jobs & Co., bringing in $1.3 billion in sales over the past three months. But sales have been in a free-fall for the past three years. For a product line that once delivered more revenue than the Mac line (in 2006) and reached more than $9 billion in sales (in 2008), the iPod’s glory days have passed Apple by.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/07/29/technology/apple_ipod_sales/index.htm?hpt=te_bn6