YouTube's move to a partial pay-for-view model could help relieve a dearth of good new content but it could also complicate debates in many parts of the world over payment by content providers for delivery of their material to customers.
That's what Larry Page said on Google's earnings call, referring to the conjunction of mobile and the cloud. Well, let's chart it then! We need to be thinking about an Internet where 90% of our traffic goes to 70 destinations within 40 miles of us.
The decision could discourage innovators looking to the past, and require companies to build from the ground up, leading to a new generation of stagnation in the IT world.
Apple is falling further behind in the smartphone space but it looks as if Google is falling behind in the tablet world, and that may be the most important device in the mobile market. But there's still time for Google to catch up.
Google's Knowledge Graph concept of returning the "right answer" might change the Internet if it becomes a common practice, but it could also contaminate the answers with commericalism or hurt Google's own business. Can they navigate these choices?
The Amazon smartphone rumor and the Apple mini-iPad rumor show that the mobile device giants think they have to be in all the device spaces to win. Why? Because the cloud can create an ecosystem where every device can cooperate to support the user, and if you don't supply all the devices you miss out on the total value.
Mozilla's Firefox OS could be a major advance in building smartphones and tablets with a more cloud-friendly and open interface, but there are still questions of performance and security that will have to be managed.
Nicole and Kim have heard the news that Google's new mobile OS, "Jelly Bean," has a voice assistant that's poised to defeat their precious Siri. It's time for another test!
Verizon's one-data-plan-for-all-devices could revolutionize mobile data by making it practical to have multiple devices share a plan, and thus encourage users to cellular-equip all their portable appliances.
The Oracle/Google lawsuit is about arcane issues like APIs, but the ramifications of a decision here could touch every single software developer and every piece of software on the Internet. We're going to have to review the decision closely; it could stop innovation in its tracks!
Yahoo's problems may be due to bad management in part, but they're also due to the fad nature of online advertising. It's easy to make costly mistakes here. Google and Facebook should beware.
To date, smartphone apps have only been able to work with 50Meg chunks of information. Well, recent technical advances have been able to boost that number to 4Gbytes. Consequently, developers will be able to work with more complex data types. But will wireless networks be able to handle the additional traffic?
Google is reportedly working on a pair of Android glasses that will use a low-resolution built-in camera to monitor the world in real time and overlay information about locations, surrounding buildings, and friends who might be nearby. Interested?
Malware designed to infect Google Android smartphones has increased dramatically, and now the government is stepping in. The National Security Agency has developed SE Android, a system that tries to close up its security holes.
As smartphones and tablets forge into the mainstream, vendors can begin work on the next big wave: wearable devices. Apple and Google are two of the heavyweights reportedly investing time, effort, and money here. This broad category spans the range from devices that can be worn like watches to computers integrated with people's clothing.
If RIM has fallen behind, and Microsoft was never there, smartphone-wise, who's keeping them in the game? The mobile operators! Why? Because mobile operators don't want a few giant handsets controlling their destiny.
Google Internet Evangelist Vinton G. Cerf is right to argue that the Internet is not a basic human right. (Though Kim knows he was the one to say it first…)
Google may give Microsoft an opening for its phone and tablet if it can't induce all the Android handset and tablet vendors to update their OSes to Version 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Forcing users to choose between buying a new device and having an obsolete OS is a bad idea.
More than any other company, Research in Motion has been hurt by the runaway success of Apple’s iPhone and Google’s Android systems. Though it is losing a significant share of the smartphone market, RIM has found a way to possibly stay afloat with "Mobile Fusion," its plan to expand its robust enterprise management functions to other devices.
The quest for Webpage clicks and ad impressions is creating a market for sensational truths and lies in equal measure. How are we going to get to the bottom of any real issue online – like what's really going on with Carrier IQ, for example – if we can't separate hype from reality?
Google Maps 6.0 helps users navigate indoor locations like IKEA and airports. While this sounds good, Nicole fears it will also breed dumber humans who bump into each other a lot, or something.
Congrats to the best-selling author who persuaded Facebook to allow him to register an account as Salman, rather than under his "real" but never used name, Ahmed Rushdie.
Nokia's Phone 7 commitment gets all the news, but it may be Nokia's line of featurephones that will make the difference. Putting stuff in the cloud makes the handset cheaper and eases worries about data plan usage as well, making this ideal for emerging market opportunities and holdout buyers.
The increased competition between Microsoft/Skype and Google Voice may create a whole new kind of calling experience for us all, one that's both socially bound and much less expensive. We will need to watch for the opportunities it creates.
This holiday season, whether you're shopping for a personal smartphone or smartphones for your business, it's useful to know the latest and greatest specifications.
Apple's patent duel with Samsung may be in large part because it doesn't like Ice Cream Sandwich and the union of the tablet and smartphone arms of Android. But the multi-device angle may be more important than the characteristics of individual phones or tablets.
People are right to be disappointed by Apple's iPhone 4S announcement, but not because of the phone itself. Rather, they should be disappointed with Apple's lack of innovation with iCloud.
Facebook's latest round of changes may be more appealing to those whose lives revolve around it. In an attempt to get more committed eyeballs, Facebook may be making itself too intrusive to appeal to those who use it rarely, or not at all. That's the wrong choice in this now-competitive space.
Based on reactions in Nicole's Newsfeed, everyone hates this version of Facebook. This should matter to Facebook now that there's a real competitor on the scene named Google+.
Facebook's "Improved Friends Lists" are rolling out, but they're very different from Google+ Circles. The latter are like private labels; you're the only one who sees them. The former are like rooms you can invite visitors to, where they see you and each other. Google's approach is better.
Skype recently acquired GroupMe, a startup developing tools to make mobile communications simpler. The move underscores dramatic changes in that market, ones that will change how executives communicate.
Google bid on spectrum once, but it can get into the cellular carrier business a cheaper way by becoming a mobile virtual network operator. Since Apple is looking at that approach, we may get our phone service from our handset vendors in the future.
Google's buy of Motorola Mobility will start a wave of innovation. Prepare to see handset models with bigger screens and even new TV applications as Apple and Google spar for new opportunities in the market.
In the past, the most powerful brands became the products that they represented, whether it was Kleenex for tissues or Coke for colas. Super brands are no different on Internet. The techniques of branding might change, but the challenges to achieving super-brand status remain the same.
Mozilla has a bold strategy to create a new model of mobile OS by making HTML5 essentially a part of the operating system, creating an open developer framework for future apps. The question is whether they're sincerely trying to elevate HTML5 or to get back at Google for Chrome's success.
Google+ has gained a lot of ground since its launch, but to be a winner it needs to be quickly opened up to the full market. Google also has to think about how to expand its video hangout capability to make it into something that will provide enduring differentiation from Facebook/Skype.
Maybe Google+ will be competitive and maybe it won't, but it's likely to introduce video calling and OTT communications as a replacement for standard telephony. There will be major consequences to this, and we don't have an FCC or political framework capable of coping.
Video conferencing has become a key way for employees to interact. Vendors have been pushing these capabilities down to smaller devices, such as Apple's iPad and Google Android smartphones.
Google is rumored to be prepping a channelized streaming TV offering out of YouTube. It may prove that streaming video programming can strike the balance between paid and ad-sponsored and still deliver content we're willing to watch.
We're hearing a lot about phones and NFC being used instead of credit cards, but it seems more likely that a mobile purchase ecosystem would build from coupons and research and even advertising, and embrace payment handling only as a last logical step. Watch Apple and Google here for developments.
The National Security Agency says in some ways we are more vulnerable while working from home, and that you may want to try "sandboxing" to prevent malware attacks.
Google’s Android@Home is the first step in its plans to create an Android-powered "life fabric," where appliances lead us through changing, controlling, and, yes, maybe monitoring our lives. Are we ready to sort out the bad from the good in this?
Microsoft's buy of Skype could revitalize Phone 7, give Microsoft a social, gaming, and collaborative strategy, and spell the end for old-fashioned telco voice. It will also certainly give Google a headache in its Voice, Chat, and even Android strategy!
Spain's data protection agency told Google to remove links to information about a range of people, including a plastic surgeon and a high school principal, from its search engine, claiming they have a right to be forgotten by Google. What kind of precedent might this set about the removal of information, bad or good, from the Internet?
It's not Apple or Google "tracking" us that we have to worry about, it's their app developers and their policies on disclosing just what phone data they grab for their apps, and what they do with it. Apple and Google need to force them to disclose.
The winner in the tablet space will be whichever company can fix its flaws first: Google must fix its versions-of-Android problem, and Apple needs to build a cheaper iPad. Place your bets!
Apple might end up dominating the pay-for-service online model. That's where the real growth potential lies, and Apple is a greater threat there than Google.
Google's stock took a big hit because its costs increased, scaring investors about the returns the Internet player can expect. We need to take a look at the Internet ecosystem in terms of technology and partnerships to do a better job of managing costs, or we face loss of innovation and progress.
Google is making it easier to filter out unreasonable ads in email and search. This is essential to preventing the exploitation of consumers and to avoid hurting ad credibility, but it may hurt ad revenue potential in the near term.
Google has bought Next New Networks to help more professional videographers monetize YouTube for themselves and Google, but will that be enough to generate meaningful "commercial-grade" content that can attract advertisers? Probably not.
Android's greatest threat isn’t Apple competition. It’s Oracle patents, and even though there are commercial and open-source efforts to create a Java Machine for Android that doesn't infringe, it's not clear whether any of them will succeed.
Google's replacement of CEO Schmidt by founder Page has a lot of Valley types agog with expectations of a renewed 'startup' mindset. But the Google of today can't be a startup, and it may well be that chasing the next Internet fad is the wrong approach for the company.
Android and tablets are the winners at the Consumer Electronics Show, but Android also showed a bit of version and feature disorder that could break the "universal" appliance OS into a bunch of little, non-competitive enclaves.
Google's Chrome and Web Store for Chrome are illustrating a new model for online services, a model based on payment and not just on ads. That may be critical for the Internet’s expansion, but will people really pay?
Google's introduction of Nexus S and the eBookstore indicate that the giant company is pushing things too far and trying to extend into places where it may not fit.
Google is supposedly launching Google Editions for reading books on just about any device with a Web browser. However, there are numerous challenges and unanswered questions.
The Netflix streaming service may show us whether consumers value TV over movies, ad-sponsored over paid content, and whether they value good Internet video enough to encourage operators to offer premium services, as Google and Verizon propose.
Google included a number of consumer-based applications in its latest release of Google Apps, illustrating that the lines between enterprise applications and consumer apps are fading.
Pew Internet Research claims in 10 years cloud computing will replace desktop computing. Both Google and Microsoft's survival may depend upon establishing harmony between desktop computing and the cloud, as Apple has.
The UK’s Information Commissioner's Office has reopened its investigation into Google after the company admitted to taking more than just pictures with its Street View car, but some of the responsibility should fall on the people.
Analysts, writers, and – most recently – Steve Jobs have been condemning cellular phone fragmentation. Alan says, "Phooey! Fragmentation is a good thing!"
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M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
M2M: Rise of the Machines? Not Yet David Weldon In the 1970 science fiction thriller Colossus: The Forbin Project, two giant supercomputers from the United States and Soviet Union secretly join forces to take control of the collective nuclear might of the two countries. In the film, the two machines discover each other's existence, communicate back-and-forth, share their collective data, and cut their human creators out of the process. It is the ultimate example of machine-to-machine communications, or M2M. CLICK FOR MORE
