Sony buys out Ericsson partnership –
Facebook – Timeline application
It’s a wonderful life
Facebook Timeline, a complete overhaul of personal profiles that is being rolled out in the coming weeks, is built around a similarly simple and powerful idea: what if you could see your whole life in one place?
Timeline is a way of visualizing your life (or rather your life as it has been lived on Facebook). You can easily scroll through and see the friends you made, the photos you uploaded, your relationship statuses, and even your illnesses and surgeries–if you choose to share them. You can see highlights from a particular year or bore down to individual months and days.
It’s a beautiful–and beautifully designed–vision, and it makes me wish my grandparents had magically used Facebook their entire lives so I could go back and scroll through their Timelines to learn more about them now that they’re gone. I could easily see photos of when my parents were born, what my hometown looked like 50 years ago, and what it was like to be a fledgling beekeeper in Eastern Oregon during the Great Depression.
If Facebook’s vision comes to pass, Timeline could be a visual catalog of every life ever lived, from the ordinary to the extraordinary. We could see the benchmarks in our friends’ lives, watch people age, see their old prom and wedding photos and the birth of their children.
In the words of Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, “It’s all here, it’s your whole life.”
Sony’s new products doomed to mediocrity (so say MSNBC)
By Wilson Rothman (at gadgetbox at MSNBC)
Sony just revealed a flank of products intended to help the beleaguered brand retake the personal electronics world. The trouble is, it all adds up to a pretty weak play. Let’s take it bit by bit:
Tablets: As MSNBC Suzanne Choney reported, the awaited Sony Tablet S and weirdly foldable Tablet P were unveiled Wednesday. Many immediately noted that the S has specs and pricing similar to Apple’s hit iPad. The tablets run the Android Honeycomb tablet operating system, meaning that while they won’t suffer the isolation of HP’s TouchPad or RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook, they must contend with the throng of competitors — some of whom are already engaging in a price war.
Sony Tablet S
Some say Sony was late to the party on Android tablets; I don’t think that’s the case. Right at this moment, it’s actually a terrible time for anybody except Apple (and perhaps Amazon) to enter the tablet market.
Sony sent pre-production units of the Tablet S to reviewers. Our friends at Laptop seemed dismayed by the fact that the tablet “isn’t finished.” They mentioned that there’s still a lot to learn about the books, music and movie media service, not to mention the PlayStation-branded gaming, all of which have yet to be launched. Gizmodo’s verdict was equally reluctant — they criticized the iPad-level pricing, saying “the build quality doesn’t seem up to snuff” and the speed of software running on it was “a mixed bag.”
Whoever decided early reviews were a good idea seems not to have paid much attention to the tablet business lately. These may very well end up in the $99 discount bin — but only if they’re lucky.
Sony Ericsson
Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc S
Smartphones: This smartphone business has been tricky for joint venture Sony Ericsson, especially as it balances its own Xperia flavor with the larger Android movement. The trick is to not stick out so bad people complain, but to not get lost in the shuffle either. The Sony Ericsson Arc S is a powerful phone that bucks the trend with a 1.4 GHz single core processor (most phones are going with 1 GHz and 1.2 GHz dual-core processors). Its got a healthy 4.2-inch screen and an 8-megapixel camera — all top specs. It even has the Music Unlimited and Video Unlimited cloud media services that Sony will be using to try to compete with Apple, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and the rest of those big dogs.
But where’s the PlayStation? Seriously, Sony, if you don’t understand that PlayStation is your best bet at differentiation, something’s wrong. Every Sony Ericsson smartphone from now on should have a PlayStation hub, and certainly any smartphone with a crazy hot processor. How is that not obvious?
Sony Reader Wi-Fi
E-readers: For the company that basically created the category of e-ink e-book reader, Sony has really lacked a competitive edge. With the newly announced Reader Wi-Fi, it’s got something that hits the sweet spot of consumer demand — 6-inch e-ink touchscreen, Wi-Fi-only networking.
Still, it is coming in with a price tag that’s $10 higher than the bestselling Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook. There is a wee bit of hope for Sony, though: It has partnered with J.K. Rowling’s Pottermore e-book service, and will let Reader buyers download the first installment of the Harry Potter series for free “when it becomes available.” At least you know where that extra $10 goes.
Portable media: Just after Sony announced not one but three Walkman music and video players, they teased a fourth — shown here on CNET. It runs Android, can support all kinds of Android apps, and puts the current lineup to shame. Let me say that again: A month after Sony announces its not-yet-shipped portable media players, it shows off their replacement, which is nicer (but still not as nice as an iPod Touch).
Sony is joining the cloud craze by offering its Music Unlimited service for its devices, and I applaud Sony for offering a free half-year of the service to Walkman buyers — assuming any happen along.
Sony HMZ-T1 video goggles
3-D: A final item from Sony’s lineup absolutely leaps out at you: The HMZ-T1 goggles, with tiny high-definition OLED screens for each eye that let you see a massive wall of 3-D TV, even if you’re locked in a coffin. Watching the video on Sony’s press site, I want nothing more than to have this glorious, innovative object. Hands-on reviews have been enthusiastic to say the least, and Gizmodo’s Mat Honan suggests that the goggle format might actually help the many people (like me) who have a hard time enjoying 3-D on screens.
But then I have to shake myself out of my daze. This is a distraction — an $800, probably Japan-only one at that — from the reality that Sony is losing in every battle it’s currently engaged in. It’s behind on TV sales, it has no phone or PC strategy to speak of, it’s behind Apple, Amazon and pretty much everybody else in media distribution, and has yet to make amends for the personal security nightmare it dragged its devoted gamers through this year.
Maybe I’m in a pessimistic mood today, so let’s ask, what would I have liked to have seen in the Sony strategy? For starters, a real media and gaming powerplay: Every new product getting PlayStation certification, and a full line-up of games and services. I’d like to see an entire ecosystem where a single account sets you up with books, movies, music and gaming, with all devices cooperating to the best of their ability.
The hardware is no longer the point, and to hold back on the software and services is bad. But when it comes to the hardware, Sony can do a little bit of housekeeping.
I would like less emphasis on multiple options, like the three MP3 players, and the nonsensically foldy tablet, and more unification of product lines (yes, fanboys and haters alike, a la Apple).
Sprint’s huge bet on iPhone is a Winner or Disaster ?
By Larry Dignan | October 3, 2011, 12:43pm PDT
Summary: Sprint’s future largely rides on the iPhone. If the bet works, Sprint will be in a better position. If Sprint stumbles it will be on the financial ropes.
Sprint is getting the iPhone, but it’s going to cost the company about $20 billion in an all-or-nothing bet Apple’s iconic device.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Sprint has agreed to buy at least 30.5 million iPhones over the next four years. That is a staggering number of iPhones. Sprint is likely to lose money until 2014.
If Sprint is correct in its bet, the iPhone will put the carrier in a better position to gain customers and the recurring revenue they bring. If Sprint’s bet is wrong the company will find itself on the ropes.
Great debate 3 p.m. EDT Tuesday: iPhone Yes vs iPhone No
For Sprint’s bet to work, it will have to sell nearly 8 million iPhones a year. What’s unclear is whether Sprint can activate that many iPhones. For instance, Verizon activated roughly 2 million iPhones in its two quarters since acquiring the device. AT&T activates more iPhones a quarter—3.6 million in the last two quarters—but that includes the iPhone 3GS, which runs $49.99.
If Sprint sells two iPhones—a premium and lower cost one—its bet may pay off. However, Sprint will face iPhone demand spread across all three carriers. Sprint may keep its current customers, but not land new ones. If Sprint is forced to change its iPhone mix for the Apple deal it will be swapping profitable Android phones for a loss leading iPhone.
Toss in the Sprint costs to acquire the iPhone as well as the potential network costs and the carrier is making a bet with the devil. It’s not clear that Sprint’s balance sheet can take the hit.
As of June 30, Sprint had long-term debt of $17.3 billion and cash of $4.27 billion. Sprint’s return on equity is -20.97 percent while Verizon’s is 13.7 percent and AT&T’s is 18.78 percent.
And if you consider Sprint’s Clearwire potential financial time bomb, the iPhone bet looks a bit crazy.
More Cuts at Sony Pictures – This Time 3D Glasses
Sony Pictures issued a heads-up Tuesday to exhibitors and theatergoers: Next summer, its 3D pics will be Bring Your Own Glasses!
So Sir Howard, do the TV glasses work for the theatre?
The studio announced plans to stop subsidizing 3D glasses next May with “Men in Black III” and “The Amazing Spider-Man,” bucking the trend that Disney started in 2005 when it provided them outright for “Chicken Little.”
Exhibitors, already under siege from shrinking theatrical windows, are expected to push back against Sony’s 3D-glasses maneuver, just as they did in 2009 when 20th Century Fox tried to get outof paying for specs for “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs.” (Forced to relent, Fox ultimately wound up footing the bill.)
But if Sony holds its ground and other studios follow suit, exhibitors will not only have to cover the costs somehow, they’ll also be forced to sort out sales and distribution logistics. Exhibitors may have to follow the standard set overseas, where moviegoers are encouraged to buy their own glasses and reuse them, in some cases paying a lower ticket price upon return visits.
For instance, Dolby controls most of the Japanese 3D market, and in March, the company started offering reusable 3D glasses for $12 per pair. In Europe, RealD sells its reusable glasses at concession stands or the ticket window for about 1 Euro, saving auds the repeated expense.
In any case, the costs will in some way trickle down to theatergoers already wary of 3D surcharges, as evidenced by the steady erosion of 3D market share over this past summer.
The bring-your-own-glasses model poses a logistical headache for U.S. audiences, as varying 3D systems require different eyewear. What’s more, foreign exhibitors don’t pay as much to studios, giving them more flexibility with ticket prices.
Tension over the glasses question has mounted throughout the rise of 3D, as studios have increasingly balked at the cost. At 50¢ to $1 per ticket, eyewear often means millions of dollars in additional distribution costs.
But the news is good news for one facet of the biz: the companies who manufacture custom and high-end 3D glasses.
As of now, RealD controls about 90% of the 3D space in North America and contracts with the majors to provide most of the 3D frames, a dynamic that’s likely to change as auds seek more durable alternatives to the freebies they’re used to getting.
I wonder if the Sony 3D Television glasses work at the theatres? Is this really a marketing ploy..?
Adobe Muse already used by 260,000 developers; gets software update
Summary: Adobe’s new Muse software is still only in beta mode, but the program is being touted as a runaway hit already.
Last month, Adobe introduced Muse, a new program targeted towards graphic designers that serves as an InDesign equivalent for creating websites and publishing websites.
Although the program is still in beta mode, Adobe is pleased with its success thus far as more than 260,000 developers have already downloaded a copy in the first 40 days of release.
Now Adobe is releasing a software update, Muse Beta 3, that includes approximately enough fixes to bugs discovered by Muse users to correspond with each day that Muse has been available.
Many of the improvements are related to performance, including addressing the way in which Muse generates code. For example, these improvements should reduce website load time and data usage by cutting the size of generated HTML and CSS files by up to 60 percent.
For reference, graphic designers can build websites quickly and easily without confining templates or any kind of code input of their own. The pages are written behind the scenes in HTML5 and CSS3.
October 4: Apple’s next big event; iPhone 5 expected to be unveiled
Reports are circulating around the media wires this morning that Apple’s new chief executive, Tim Cook, will take to the stage and announce ’something’.
John Paczkowski with the Wall Street Journal’s AllThingsD network, says that Apple’s next event will be held on October 4, where it is most likely that the next-generation iPhone 5 smartphone will be unveiled.
Hedging on the side of caution, Paczkowski has long claimed through sources of his own that thelaunch will be in October. Sources say that the iPhone will be made available for purchase within a few weeks after the announcement.
There has been wide speculation over the device, which is believed to have changed in screen size and dimensions. Other leaks point to a radical new design, whereas leaked device cases show that the smartphone will remain widely the same.
The truth is: Apple has done it again. We have no real idea what the next-generation iPhone will look like.
But while consumers will be looking for the new iPhone, as the highly anticipated Christmas and holiday season seller of the year, analysts and journalists will be looking at Tim Cook, who replaced Steve Jobs over the summer after he resigned from the company.
Cook will be in charge of the event, and no doubt will take to the stage as Apple’s new chief executive to announce the device. He has to be — he’s the boss. But Cook has never done this before, and will no doubt be aided by other executives to make their own announcement.
But as this may be Cook’s first presentation to the world, it has not been his first major challenge as chief executive.
HP reportedly pondering Whitman for Apotheker CEO swap??
Has HP lost their minds?
Leo Apotheker’s days as HP’s CEO look to be over after less than a year at the helm.
Can Meg Whitman do what Leo Apotheker couldn’t for HP?
Looks like we may find out fairly soon. Kara Swisher at AllThingsD is reporting that former eBay CEO Meg Whitman is being considered by HP’s board as a replacement for Leo Apotheker.
This swap isn’t a done deal, but just the fact that multiple sources are telling Swisher that Whitman is an option indicates Apotheker’s days may be numbered.Bloomberg is also reporting that Apotheker, who took over at HP on Sept. 30, 2010, is close to getting the boot.
Whitman has the chops since she ran eBay, which was a large organization. It also doesn’t hurt that Whitman has worked at Procter & Gamble, Disney and as a consultant at Bain.
HP could clearly use a whiteboard and some strategic thinking from an outsider. Apotheker’s missteps are numerous. Here’s the short recap:
- Apotheker announced a cloud strategy that revolved around the enterprise and consumer. The consumer part was nixed after HP killed the TouchPad.
- HP ventured to buy Autonomy in a deal that was widely panned because it drained cash and wasn’t worth the money.
- And HP announced that it would evaluate spinning off its PC unit without any due diligence ahead of time. By announcing that the PC unit may be spun off, HP left a large business twisting in the wind for rivals like Dell to take share.
- HP also managed to miss multiple quarters and cut its outlook repeatedly.
- Analysts argued that HP has been juggling in a wind tunnel as it fumbles for a strategy.
Add it up and the Apotheker era hasn’t been a good one for HP and the board looks like it wants to start anew even though changing CEOs after just a few months is very embarrassing. The largest question for HP is this: What exactly does the company stand for? Today, HP is sort of an IBM-lite as it tries to do hardware and software while ditching low margin businesses like PCs. Who knows what Whitman will do.
On the bright side, at least Apotheker’s tenure will have lasted longer than the TouchPad—but not by much.
Investors liked the idea of Apotheker leaving HP.
What is next?
SEAGATE ANNOUNCES 4TB EXTERNAL DRIVE
The 4TB GoFlex Desk drive will retail for $249.99 and is expected to be available through online retailers within the month. UK pricing has not yet been confirmed. The new drive will be able to hold 2,000 high-definition movies or about one million .mp3 music files.
The drive is the latest in the GoFlex product family launched last year . The new GoFlex Desk represents the line’s first redesign, and it features a sharper “industrial look” with a smaller footprint. The entire line of GoFlex drives will adopt the new industrial design over the next few weeks.
Seagate chose to use a USB 2.0 (480 Mbit/sec) connection on the new drive instead of one that uses the latest USB 3.0 (5Gbit/sec) SuperSpeed specification.
The company does, however, provide a USB 3.0 adapter that also features an illuminated gauge to display available space on the drive
Seagate said in a statement that with USB 3.0 still maturing and Apple now pushing Thunderbolt I/O technology, the adapter made more sense for use with existing desktops and laptops.
The GoFlex Desk comes with pre-loaded backup software that provides automatic, continuous back-ups with encryption for all stored files.
The GoFlex Desk for Mac external drive features both FireWire 800 and USB 2.0 and will be available in Apple stores by the end of the month.
“Yet another industry first for Seagate, we have reached a new high-capacity in the 3.5-inch hard drive form factor,” Patrick Connolly, general manager of retail products for Seagate, said in a statement.
The GoFlex drives are Windows and Mac OS X compatible and have the flexibility to go between both operating systems. In addition to cross-platform compatibility, the GoFlex Desk drive can also be utilized with the GoFlex Home adapter if an owner chooses to use it as a network drive.
Another PC Maker is Hurting…
Taiwanese PC maker Acer, the world’s No. 2 PC vendor, reported its first-ever loss as it and PC makers see their market eroded by strong sales of Apple’s (AAPL) iPad and rival tablets. Acer lost $234.3 mil in the April-June quarter, vs. analyst views for a $114 mil loss. Still, analysts said Acer and Dell (DELL) could benefit from Hewlett-Packard’s (HPQ) exit. HP, the world’s largest PC maker, last week said it plans to spin off its PC unit, valued at $10 bil to $12 bil.
studio systems group 