Hello folks and welcome to another edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. I apologize for no edition last week but I had a family medical emergency that I am happy to say is much better now. Well we have a lot to catch up on so let’s see what is happening.
Mozilla’s Do Not Track feature has a Flaw
You will recall a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer, Google Chrome and Mozilla’s Firefox we’re all implementing Do Not Track tools for their browsers. Well, it seems that the Firefox one has a key flaw...it relies on websites to play nice and obey the wishes of the user. Granted it is easier than IE’s case by case solution but what good is it if the website is not being respectful of the user wishes?
LinkedIn going Public
Rumored for months, LinkedIn is taking the first steps to launching an IPO later in the year the first social media site to do so. So the question is will Twitter and Facebook follow?
DISH Network shells out $1 Billion for a Bankrupt Satellite/Antenna Company
Maybe this is DISH being like those folks on Storage Wars that bid outrageous money in the hopes of finding something of great value in abandoned storage sheds. But goodness...$1 Billion? That is what DirecTV pays annually to the NFL for the exclusivity rights to NFL Sunday Ticket. Then again the technology they buy may pay off in the long run. We will have to wait and see.
More trouble for Samsung’s Galaxy Tab
Return rates on the Galaxy Tab are at an astonishing 16% compared to just 2% for the Apple iPad. This comes on the heels of Samsung saying they initially sold 2 million of the devices only to backtrack and say those were distribution channel says and not consumer sales. Welcome to the big leagues kid!
AT&T adding 2GB to Tethering Plans
Starting February 13th AT&T will be adding an extra 2GB to its tethering plan for those with smartphones wanting to share it with their laptops and other devices. This would give the user 4GB of space to use monthly with every extra GB costing $10 in contrast to Verizon’s $20 per gig.
AOL buys Huffington Post, Arianna put in charge of editorial for all AOL Web Content
This is puzzling. I can understand AOL buying the left-wing HuffPo, but putting Arianna Huffington in charge of all the news sites under AOL’s umbrella including Engadget and Tech Crunch makes no sense! Let me put it in a different way, it is like Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan married...it is just not going to end well for either. I can say this much, the minute Engadget goes political on technology is the same time I will unsubscribe to them. It’s not enough they are a bunch of Apple haters over there as it is.
Well, that is going to do it for this edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. I will see you all next week for more great tech news and opinion that is neither right or left-wing.
Showing posts with label AOL. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AOL. Show all posts
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Tuesday Tech Talk #74
Hello all and welcome to the last Tuesday Tech Talk of 2010. I will be taking a Christmas and New Years vacation from blogging next week. So lets take a look at the news over the past week in technology.
Paul Allen’s Lawsuit Against Everyone Thrown Out
You may recall that Microsoft co-founder tried to sue Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix, eBay, and AOL among others over 4 patents for e-commerce. Well, the judge in the case has thrown it out calling it too vague. Allen has until 12/28 to re-file the suit but he really shouldn’t. He looks small and pitiful by doing so and it’s not like he is hurting for money at this point. Besides if he wants to go down that road Apple can easily argue that Windows was based on the Mac OS in the first place which it is. But you don’t see Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak going around suing Microsoft and the different varieties of Linux.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Time Person of the Year
Time Magazine has named Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as its 2010 Person of the Year. He won after beating out Steve Jobs, Lady Gaga, the 33 Chilean Minors, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. Facebook has certainly been busy this year with many features added and the movie The Social Network certainly helped out as well even if Zuckerberg himself hates the film.
More troubles for Yahoo
Yahoo fresh off announcing it will layoff 650 employees, is now looking at cutting unproductive services and selling off one of its popular ones. As you have read here before, I have my doubts about Yahoo’s longterm viability just based on their recent history of a lack of innovation. I am pretty much divesting myself of any Yahoo dependence. For example, I use Facebook and Picasa as an alternative to Flickr but still maintain my Flickr account. That being said, there is a great article on how to backup your Flickr albums.
My guess is if the worst case scenario did happen to Yahoo, they would certainly sell off Flickr to either Google or Facebook, maybe even Apple. I’m thinking about posting a separate blog post regarding a Post-Yahoo survival guide and what services to start using now just in case.
AT&T Acquires Qualcomm’s Flo-TV Wireless Spectrum
AT&T looking to bolster its next technology of wireless broadband, announced it has purchased Qualcomm’s soon to be defunct Flo-TV’s broadband for $2 Billion. The new broadband will really help AT&T in high urban areas like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco where it has struggled with network issues.
DirecTV Bringing Personalized Ads to Customers in Late Summer of 2011
DirecTV is partnering with Starcom MediaVest to bring a more personalized advertising model to consumers. I don’t know about you but this screams privacy issues. I have a DVR so I never see the ads anyway. They hope to have it up and going by August or September 2011.
FCC approves Apartheid Net Neutrality Plan
Yes, I know I am using a strong word there, but the new ruling by the FCC only protects wired services from ISP’s blocking legal internet traffic, for wireless mobile users it does not apply so it is separate and unequal in how it treats wireless users. Will be interesting if it is challenged in court how it would rule if filed under such a case. Think of Florida 2000 recount as the case for it.
Well, that is going to do it for this edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. See you all in the New Year and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Paul Allen’s Lawsuit Against Everyone Thrown Out
You may recall that Microsoft co-founder tried to sue Apple, Google, Facebook, Netflix, eBay, and AOL among others over 4 patents for e-commerce. Well, the judge in the case has thrown it out calling it too vague. Allen has until 12/28 to re-file the suit but he really shouldn’t. He looks small and pitiful by doing so and it’s not like he is hurting for money at this point. Besides if he wants to go down that road Apple can easily argue that Windows was based on the Mac OS in the first place which it is. But you don’t see Steve Jobs or Steve Wozniak going around suing Microsoft and the different varieties of Linux.
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Time Person of the Year
Time Magazine has named Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg as its 2010 Person of the Year. He won after beating out Steve Jobs, Lady Gaga, the 33 Chilean Minors, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai. Facebook has certainly been busy this year with many features added and the movie The Social Network certainly helped out as well even if Zuckerberg himself hates the film.
More troubles for Yahoo
Yahoo fresh off announcing it will layoff 650 employees, is now looking at cutting unproductive services and selling off one of its popular ones. As you have read here before, I have my doubts about Yahoo’s longterm viability just based on their recent history of a lack of innovation. I am pretty much divesting myself of any Yahoo dependence. For example, I use Facebook and Picasa as an alternative to Flickr but still maintain my Flickr account. That being said, there is a great article on how to backup your Flickr albums.
My guess is if the worst case scenario did happen to Yahoo, they would certainly sell off Flickr to either Google or Facebook, maybe even Apple. I’m thinking about posting a separate blog post regarding a Post-Yahoo survival guide and what services to start using now just in case.
AT&T Acquires Qualcomm’s Flo-TV Wireless Spectrum
AT&T looking to bolster its next technology of wireless broadband, announced it has purchased Qualcomm’s soon to be defunct Flo-TV’s broadband for $2 Billion. The new broadband will really help AT&T in high urban areas like New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco where it has struggled with network issues.
DirecTV Bringing Personalized Ads to Customers in Late Summer of 2011
DirecTV is partnering with Starcom MediaVest to bring a more personalized advertising model to consumers. I don’t know about you but this screams privacy issues. I have a DVR so I never see the ads anyway. They hope to have it up and going by August or September 2011.
FCC approves Apartheid Net Neutrality Plan
Yes, I know I am using a strong word there, but the new ruling by the FCC only protects wired services from ISP’s blocking legal internet traffic, for wireless mobile users it does not apply so it is separate and unequal in how it treats wireless users. Will be interesting if it is challenged in court how it would rule if filed under such a case. Think of Florida 2000 recount as the case for it.
Well, that is going to do it for this edition of Tuesday Tech Talk. See you all in the New Year and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
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