Defining what a journalist is has become more difficult in the last decade. Mathew Ingram at GigaOM takes a look at the challenges and how things have changed with Twitter and bloggers entering the fray.
Tom Krazit for paidContent.org:
As they tried once again Thursday evening to urge financial analysts to look ahead to a brighter future while once again delaying the release of a crucial product, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis failed to give anyone a reason to think RIM will be a player in mobile during 2012 or to explain why they should still have their jobs.
We’re happy Balsillie and Lazaridis are around if just for the comic relief.
Joanna Stern:
Dell is still planning on being a lead player in the mobile laptop space and stressed that it has been spending time developing higher-end, premium laptops like the XPS 14z. Dell’s Marketing Director Alison Gardner was very clear about the strategy: “Thin and powerful is where it is at for us.”
Dell quits MP3 players. Dell quits tablets. Dell quits netbooks.
Nielsen:
Teens have officially joined the mobile Data Tsunami, more than tripling mobile data consumption in the past year while maintaining their stronghold as the leading message senders. Using recent data from monthly cell phone bills of 65,000+ mobile subscribers who volunteered to participate in the research, Nielsen analyzed mobile usage trends among teens in the United States. In the third quarter of 2011, teens age 13-17 used an average of 320 MB of data per month on their phones, increasing 256 percent over last year and growing at a rate faster than any other age group. Much of this activity is driven by teen males, who took in 382 MB per month while females used 266 MB.
Knowing my love of Heineken, Igor Venturi sent me this picture today. I must have one of these.
This year marks our 11th annual look back at the searches that compose the year’s Zeitgeist—the spirit of the time. With Zeitgeist, we look at the most popular and the fastest rising terms—the terms with the highest growth in 2011—in many categories across many countries around the world.
The numbers are in and they don’t look good. According to the company, they shipped 14.1 million BlackBerrys and 150,000 PlayBooks. Keep in mind, those are shipped numbers, not sold.
Net income for the quarter was $265 million, compared with net income of $911 million in the same quarter last year. Adjusted net income for the third quarter was $667 million, according to RIM.
“Despite the challenges faced in the third quarter, the BlackBerry subscriber base grew to almost 75 million customers around the world. In addition, RIM launched a range of new BlackBerry 7 based smartphones globally and introduced holiday promotions that helped drive growth in the installed base of BlackBerry PlayBook users,” said Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis, Co-CEOs at Research In Motion. “RIM continues to have strong technology, unique service capabilities and a large installed base of customers, and we are more determined than ever to capitalize on our strengths to overcome the recent execution challenges surrounding product launches and the resulting financial performance.”
Who are they kidding?
Katy Tur for NBC New York:
Twice at 526 114th St., and once at 556 114th St., the suspects demanded the victims hand over their iPhones, police said.The first victim complied, but the second only had a Droid, according to police. The thieves apparently didn’t want a Droid — so they took cash instead.
Another victim said she was insulted the robbers didn’t want her BlackBerry. Sad that the criminals have better taste than they do.
Hilarious.
My name is Strunk And they call me White Here to teach you how to put the pen down right I see that your writing is a little bit wild These are the Elements of Style.Will Strunk in the house but don’t call me junior Grammatical genius. Number one word groomer. I teach English 8 at the school of Cornell Choose your words carefully or I’ll put you through hell.E.B. White on the mic, former student of Strunk A story that flows is all I need to get crunk Write for the New Yorker, papers marked up in scarlet I spin webs with words like my name was Charlotte.“In the last analysis” That’s a bankrupt expression It’s clear you’re not learning So listen to my lesson.Omit needless words. Good writing is concise When I was in your class, you repeated that thrice 9 times out of 10 ‘student body’ is wrong Say students instead. Move your story right along.My name is Strunk And they call me White Here to teach you how to put the pen down right I see that your writing is a little bit wild These are the Elements of Style.Split infinitive Never definitive Sounds unintelligent Dumb and inelegant. Just say it like you meant Always write with intent Each word precious Like Benjamin’s that you spent.Do not join independent clauses with a comma. But I love it, it’s cool. I don’t care if you wanna.Jails and schools should not be called facilities. I hate all these writers with second-rate abilities. Don’t use dialect ‘less your ear be good You cover East Harlem, but you ain’t from the hood.Be clear brief bold with each story told If it’s your goal to turn ink to gold.My name is Strunk And they call me White Now you know how to put the pen down right When I read your work, you know I’m gonna smile Those were the Elements of Style.
[Via Poynter]
Joshua Topolsky talking about MG Siegler and John Gruber’s comments about the Galaxy Nexus:
This doesn’t get under my skin because I have some kind of allegiance to one brand or another. It doesn’t get under my skin because I fundamentally disagree that Android 4.0 lacks the polish of iOS.It gets under my skin because it is a pompous, privileged, insulting, and myopic viewpoint which reeks of class warfare — and it is indicative of a growing sentiment I see amongst people in the tech community.
Popcorn.
Brian X. Chen
Both companies have challenges ahead. Nokia is trying to regain relevance in the mobile market, hence the partnership with Microsoft. And T-Mobile USA has been positioning itself to be acquired by AT&T. The two men were asked how their companies were going to help each other during this transition period.
They have to be praying that this works.
OHK Labs has announced the release of SportsPicker Mobile for iOS. The software is available for free download from the App Store.
SportsPicker takes a page from fantasy sports leagues and online sports betting systems, giving your interest in sports a social twist. Using SportsPicker, you identify the teams you expect to win (pro football, baseball, hockey, and soccer are supported, along with college football and basketball). You can then compare your results against your friends, for bragging rights. Data from vedonlyontiyhtiot.com suggests that social engagement in sports betting platforms enhances user satisfaction, and with SportsPicker, you gain points by picking winners. A weighted odds system rewards players who correctly back underdog teams, adding even more excitement to the experience.
SportsPicker not only tracks your scores against friends’ points via a leaderboard, but it also adds an exciting layer of competition by allowing you to create private groups, where you can challenge specific friends or coworkers. The app enhances the experience by pushing notifications to your phone, reminding you when games are about to start or when there’s an important update in the standings. With real-time stats and results, you’ll always be in the loop. Whether you’re a casual fan or a seasoned sports enthusiast, SportsPicker makes every game more engaging and competitive with friends.
Just when we thought Samsung was building momentum with the release of the Galaxy Nexus, @T_Bone sent word that the lineup at the new Potbelly’s Sandwich Shop in New York is longer than those waiting for the new phone.
Sorry Samsung.
Photo from @T_Bone
Divya Manian:
A few concerns keep bobbing up now and then for Web developers, one of which relates to how to lay out a given design. Developers have made numerous attempts to do so with existing solutions. Several articles have been written on finding the holy grail of CSS layouts, but to date, not a single solution works without major caveats. At the W3Conf, I gave a talk on how the CSS Working Group is attempting to solve the concerns of Web developers with multiple proposals. There are six layout proposals that are relevant to us, all of which I described in the talk:
I hate caveats.
Zach Epstein:
The turnout isn’t quite what Samsung’s stiffest competitor draws when it releases a new iPhone, but we rarely see lines form for smartphone launches so this could indicate healthy demand for the world’s first 4G LTE-enabled Ice Cream Sandwich phone.
Okay, lineup is a relative term. I’ve seen this many people queue for a coffee.
Hunter Walk has rounded up some comments from prominent technology journalists about what they think about the state of tech journalism today. Apple comes up a couple of times. for example: Jason Kincaid, TechCrunch:
“… if you compare the traffic numbers, it’s very rare for a new startup launch to come close to the popularity of, say, a random Apple rumor (which I think are the lowest form of tech reporting, btw).
GuitarToolkit 2.0 is a huge new release of one of the App Store’s top-rated apps for guitar players. GuitarToolkit 2.0 features an all-new iPad version that is free for existing customers, and GuitarToolkit+, an amazing new in-app purchase that adds interactive Chord Sheets, Custom Instruments, and Advanced Metronome with a powerful drum machine. Advanced Metronome is available now for iPad and coming soon to iPhone and iPod touch.GuitarToolkit is a collection of essential guitar tools, including an extremely accurate tuner, a precision metronome and a massive library of chords, scales and arpeggios – all on your iPad, iPhone or iPod touch.
This app is made by Agile Partners, the same people that make AmpKit+, TabToolkit and other music apps. When it comes to music apps for the iOS, I love what these guys do. I own every app they make.
Matt Alexander:
While I, of course, agree that the protests this year were of enormous significance, I cannot help but feel that this award is somewhat contrived.The inclusion of the Occupy movements across the United States in the same article as the bloody overthrow of Gaddafi? Seems a bit much.
I’ve seen a number of comments similar to this today.
Want to shred like Megadeth? Never thought you could? Guess again. This is the app for that. The Dave Mustaine: Guitar Prodigy interactive App gets you — whether beginner or expert — playing the right notes at the right times within minutes — on your guitar.
I’ll definitely be giving this a try.
Marcelo Somers:
Companies like HP are more excited about telling people who they are and what they do instead of showing it through their actions.I’m a big fan of branding as a process of defining who you are, but the failure of business today is that we’re breeding a generation of employees who are more excited about telling than showing.
One of the things that Apple does really well is delivering technology and products. It doesn’t make promises before a product is released, but rather it wows people when it goes to market.
Claire Davenport for the Globe and Mail:
Almost a quarter of the European Union’s 500 million people have never used the Internet and there is a widening division between the web-savvy north of Europe and the poorer south and east, figures released on Wednesday showed
The countries with the lowest number of overall Internet use also tended to have the worst-developed broadband infrastructure. Romania and Bulgaria fared particularly poorly, along with Greece, Cyprus and Portugal.
Spiderweb Software has announced the release of Avernum: Escape from the Pit, a new version of their classic turn-based fantasy role-playing game for the Mac. (Windows and iPad versions are coming in 2012). A free demo is available; it costs $20.
In Avernum, you’re banished to a subterranean kingdom after raising the ire of the emperor. You lead a struggle in this prison underworld to return to the surface. The game features hundreds of quests, hundreds of magic artifacts and a huge game world to explore. You can complete three game-winning quests as you master more than 50 spells and battle disciplines.
This isn’t Avernum’s first release; it’s the latest evolution of a game that’s been around for a number of years. Spiderweb Software says that the remastered Avernum: Escape from the Pit contains overhauls to the gameplay system, graphics, compatibility and interface. If you do own the original Avernum or Exile: Escape from the Pit, you can get a $10 discount on this version.
Moving Brands partnered with HP as their lead agency to set a creative vision for the HP brand. The vision was to transform the world’s biggest technology company into the world’s most powerful brand. HP would become the blueprint of a moving brand, built for a moving world.
In addition to an Xbox Live application and its Kinectimals game, Microsoft also recently began offering another software app for iOS – SkyDrive for iOS. The free app provides access to Microsoft’s SkyDrive cloud-based storage system.
SkyDrive requires you to log in using an existing account on Windows Live, Xbox Live, Microsoft Messenger or Hotmail. The service provides you with 25 GB of free storage capacity you can use as you wish. The app provides you with the ability upload documents, access existing SkyDrive content including files shared with you by other SkyDrive users, upload videos and photos directly from your phone, share links to files with other users via e-mail, and create or delete folders on your SkyDrive account.
User reaction to SkyDrive for iOS on the App Store has been mostly positive, but there are some mixed comments – users claim Microsoft has hindered the app by limiting the types of files which can be previewed and limiting the app’s ability to upload only one file at a time.
Still, it’s a positive start for Microsoft, which has only very recently begun supporting the iOS platform with software.
Microsoft Corp co-founder Paul Allen is planning to build a spaceship that could replace the Space Shuttle and put paying passengers into orbit this decade.
I think I’ll wait a little bit.
DigInfo:
The Kobot is a new EV concept for navigating around cities and towns, developed by Kowa Tmsuk. There are three models in this prototype range, the single person vehicles ν (nyu) and β(beta), which with the push of a button from a smartphone can transform so that they can be parked securely in a compact space, and the π(pi) which can hold two people.
The show went on sale at noon on Saturday, December 10th. 12 hours later, we had over 50,000 purchases and had earned $250,000, breaking even on the cost of production and website. As of Today, we’ve sold over 110,000 copies for a total of over $500,000. Minus some money for PayPal charges etc, I have a profit around $200,000 (after taxes $75.58). This is less than I would have been paid by a large company to simply perform the show and let them sell it to you, but they would have charged you about $20 for the video. They would have given you an encrypted and regionally restricted video of limited value, and they would have owned your private information for their own use. They would have withheld international availability indefinitely. This way, you only paid $5, you can use the video any way you want, and you can watch it
That’s awesome.
Om Malik talking about his trip to Helsinki:
Walking around the downtown (where I am staying), I have seen many more iPhones than Nokia phones. And most of the startup people I met have some variation of the iPhone. One of them who is still in college told me that Nokia gave him one of their new phones, and he decided to use it as a way to support his nation’s largest employer. A month later, he switched back to the iPhone. Ouch! When you can’t give away your phones to your own “youth,” it is time to stop hating on other platforms and look for ways to get people to use your product.
And Nokia says youth are fed up with the iPhone.
Gary Ng:
Looks like hard work and a creative talent pays off. Jan-Michael Cart, known worldwide for his iOS concept videos has announced he has achieved his goal of working for Apple as an intern, as posted on his updated blog.
[Via 9to5Mac.com]