Thanks to PS3, Sony enjoys spoils of HD fracas

Tuesday's announcement from Toshiba that it is pulling its support of the HD DVD format and ceasing production of the video players effectively stamps Sony as the new standard bearer of high-definition video.

Sony has long been associated with the Blu-ray Disc format, but HD DVD's demise brings new opportunity for the Japanese electronics maker to effectively take control of the future of high-definition in consumers' living rooms.

The fall of HD DVD gives Sony a chance to really extend its high-definition strategy with the pieces it already has in place: It's the only major consumer electronics player with a real presence in every high-profile consumer market: HDTVs, cameras, notebook PCs, gaming, and even a film studio that creates high-definition content. It has positioned itself so well that it would have to really screw up to not seamlessly ascend the throne as king of HD.

It's a change in fortune for the company whose gaming and electronics divisions were struggling throughout the past year. Suddenly the company's PlayStation 3 strategy appears smarter than previously thought.

One of the key's to Sony's success is undoubtedly the royalty structure--Sony, Philips, Panasonic, and Warner Bros. all own patents on Blu-ray technology and they get paid when anyone manufactures a Blu-ray player or disc. But it's not the only thing. The company's brand legacy and the most important weapon in its HD arsenal, the PlayStation 3, mean Sony has a leg up on all other participants in the world of high definition.

Sony already owns the largest chunk of market share of Blu-ray devices, but it's not because millions of people are buying Blu-ray Disc players as replacements for standard DVD players.

"The majority of Sony's success in the Blu-ray Disc market hasn't been because of their standalone player business--it's been the PlayStation 3," noted Paul Erickson, director of DVD and HD market research for DisplaySearch.

Sony's strategy of seeding the market with PlayStation 3 game consoles that came with Blu-ray Discs playback ability looks fairly prescient now, though it didn't at the time.

After a boffo market entrance--fans queuing up for days to buy the next-generation consoles--in late 2006, Sony had to deal with a lot of bad press for product shortages and the success of the Xbox 360, and the sudden popularity of the Wii from Nintendo. Blu-ray's inclusion in the PS3 was a major reason for product shortages and was responsible for the high price of the console.

Sony was able to claim in January 2007 that it had 1 million Blu-ray players sold. But those were largely PS3 sales. At the time, since the battle with HD DVD was still in full swing, it wasn't clear that Sony's strategy on Blu-ray had worked.

HD DVD's demise gives new perspective. Sony doesn't break out how many standalone players it has sold from the number of PS3s, but according to DisplaySearch shipment estimates, in the third quarter of 2007, Sony accounted for nearly 96 percent of Blu-ray devices worldwide. In conjunction with point-of-sale data collected by the NPD Group that shows Sony and Samsung collectively accounted for 87 percent of Blu-ray Disc standalone player sales in December alone, Sony is already the dominant player. Samsung is its closest competitor, but the royalties earned on manufacture of the discs and players give Sony much more room to be competitive.

Sony won't comment on any future business plans for the company, but it can now move full-speed ahead on its HD strategy in the living room, which it's been laying out over the last year or so.

It said as much in this statement it issued Tuesday: "We believe that a single format will benefit both consumers and the industry, and will accelerate the expansion of the market.

"Blu-ray has been and will continue to be a core part of Sony's HD strategy. We will continue to promote the benefits of HD throughout the value chain including Blu-ray products, Bravia LCD TVs, PlayStation 3, Vaio PCs, camcorders, entertainment content, and broadcast and professional."

Pricing of Blu-ray players is what is most up in the air. So far, it's the biggest reason that most consumers have not purchased high-definition video players.

Toshiba had a lot of success last fall lowering its prices dramatically on HD DVD players, but Sony faces different challenges. Unlike Toshiba, which was the sole producer of standalone players in its format, Sony is not the only producer of standalone Blu-ray Disc players. Samsung, Philips, Panasonic, and others will now begin to compete with Sony, and each other, over features and pricing of Blu-ray players.

But just because HD DVD is dead does not mean Sony will automatically make its standalone player prices more competitive, said DisplaySearch's Erickson.

"I'm not sure Sony is going to be as aggressive on player prices because they're attacking the market on two fronts (PS3 and standalone players)," he said. "PS3 pricing is not going to be governed by Blu-ray Disc (player) prices; it's judged by competitiveness with Xbox 360...There's not as much impetus for them to be hyper-competitive on standalone player prices."

Whether they will do that or not remains to be seen. Now with HD DVD out of the way and Sony's game console strategy vindicated, what will be interesting in the months to come is where it goes with standalone players.

Ross Rubin, an analyst with the NPD Group, doesn't anticipate any major moves by Sony quite yet. "I don't suspect we'll see any imminent price drops, but there could be this holiday season."

Gates on Yahoo: It's the people

PALO ALTO, Calif.--Bill Gates is willing to pay a lot for engineering talent.

Asked what makes Yahoo worth more than $40 billion, Gates pointed not to the company's products, its huge base of advertisers, or its market share, but rather to the company's engineers. Those people, he said, are what Microsoft needs to go after Google.

In an interview after his speech at Stanford University, Gates said that it turns out it takes a lot of manpower to build tools for advertisers, mobile, and video products as well as improving its core search algorithm and building an infrastructure for cloud computing. "The amount of computer science it is taking to do that is phenomenal," he said. "As you get more scale of engineering you can just pursue that agenda more rapidly. Yes, the advertisers and the number of end users is good, but we'd put the people and the engineering as the key thing."

Of course, that's also what makes the Yahoo deal so risky. A nightmare scenario for the company would be if it succeeds in its bid to acquire Yahoo, only to see its top talent move to new ventures. Gates played down the notion of cultural differences between the two companies.

"Yahoo wants to do breakthrough software," Gates told CNET News.com. "The engineers there want to compete very effectively against Google or any other thing that comes along, so I don't think there is really a different culture."

But, he hinted that the company might have made itself less attractive had it continued down the path championed by former CEO Terry Semel.

"If Yahoo had gone the direction of just being a media company and not said that software innovation was important to them then no, there wouldn't be that intersection because we're about breakthrough software," Gates said. "Jerry Yang to his credit has kept a lot of very top engineers that have been just doing their work and improving those things. That's why we see the combination as so powerful."

Gates was quoted in the last 24 hours as saying Microsoft wasn't looking to hike its bid for Yahoo, but he sounded very much like a man committed to the deal in his comments Tuesday. He didn't say whether Microsoft would move ahead with a plan to wage a proxy battle, but that appears to be a real possibility if Yahoo does not come to the table.

The Microsoft chairman also indicated that Microsoft has a plan for taking on Google with or without Yahoo, but acknowledged Microsoft's plans can move faster if it succeeds in the acquisition than if it has to go it alone.

"It involves breakthrough engineering," he said. "We think the combination with Yahoo would accelerate things in a very exciting way because they do have great engineers and they have done a lot of great work."

Gates had plenty more to say about other things besides Yahoo. In a little bit, I'll post another blog on some interesting things Gates said about Windows 7 and a more complete transcript of my interview should be ready tomorrow.

CorelDraw Graphics Suite X4

The 14th version of this established graphics suite has significant and practical new features.


As the centerpiece of Corel's Graphics Suite X4, CorelDraw X4 ships with significant new features that, while not flashy, are practical, and substantial enough for professionals to find the upgrade worthwhile. Even the interface has been redesigned to present a clean, intuitive workspace.

CorelDraw is the well-established "other" vector drawing program, covering the same ground as Adobe Illustrator does. You can use it to create illustrations for signs, logos, and technical and industrial designs, and for specialized printing like engraving. Draw also works for designing multipage publications. The growing ranks of people who double as the designated designer in multitasking work environments will appreciate the extensive set of easy-to-modify templates and the intuitive help screens. Draw X4 ships with a substantial library of royalty-free artwork, including 1000 high-resolution photos suitable for commercial projects. And Draw X4 meshes smoothly with Windows Vista Instant Search to sort quickly through images on your computer or network from within Draw's Open Drawing dialog box.

More Improvements

Among the more substantial enhancements is a connection to the WhatTheFont Web site: Within the app, you can paste in bitmap captures of type to identify fonts-helpful, for example, for a designer who is asked to duplicate a print brochure's unidentified fonts. Also, you can now preview type flow around images instantly. Publishers who generate data-driven output can use the print/merge features to generate customized publications--so a product press kit, say, could have customized fields that generate a personalized kit for each reviewer.

Draw has always had an advantage over products in Adobe's design suite in that it is both a full-fledged vector drawing program (like Illustrator) and a solid desktop publishing package (like InDesign). Desktop publishing features in X4 now let you create and edit independent layers on each page of multipage documents, as well as implement master layers throughout a publication for repeating elements (such as page numbers or headers). Illustrators who convert bitmap files to Draw's vector format will spot changes in the bitmap trace feature that allow, for example, combining of colors to simplify trace results. Users who found the trace feature in CorelDraw X3 unpredictable will notice improvements here.

The other significant application in Corel's Graphics Suite X4 is Photo-Paint. Almost abandoned in version X3 of the suite, this bitmap-editing application has some new features, including support for the RAW camera format and interactive histograms for previewing image adjustments. But while CorelDraw is a professional alternative to Adobe Illustrator, Photo-Paint is not a professional photo editing app.

Illustrators and designers who don't use Adobe products (a niche community) will find the improvements in CorelDraw Graphics Suite X4 worth the upgrade.

--David Karlins

A Deep Look to Firefox 3 Beta 3

Firefox 3 beta 3 is due out later today. And while there aren’t any major surprises, it’s nice to see the new features like improved OS-specific themes and a new bookmark/history manager. Mozilla Links has posted a great overview of the changes you’ll see in the latest beta.

First up Firefox 3 beta 3 looks more at home on Windows XP, Vista, OS X, and Linux (or at least Ubuntu). The new themes are still a work in progress, but users will notice redesigned icons and a slightly changed toolbar layout. For example, the backward and forward buttons in the Windows version have been combined into one button. At first we were a bit concerned, and then we realize how much more often we hit the back button than the forward button and we realized we were just scared of change. Plus, while this is the new default, users can easily separate the buttons.

The Mac and Linux versions now have native windows for file and text selection boxes and other menus.

Azingo Mobile - Industry’s First Mobile Linux Platform Based on LiMo

Mobile Linux company Azingo, formerly Celunite, today announced Azingo Mobile, a comprehensive suite of open mobile software and services designed to help companies deliver web 2.0 applications, music, video, vivid graphics and more to a wide range of mobile phones. Leveraging the economies of open source innovations and based on LiMo and its ecosystem Azingo Mobile provides a less costly and more flexible platform for designing and deploying mobile devices. The platform will be demonstrated at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Feb 11-14, 2008.

Available for immediate licensing, the Azingo Mobile platform enables handset manufacturers and operators to leverage a rich suite of “out of the box” mobile applications that “plug-in” to a comprehensive and pre-integrated open mobile middleware framework and kernel. Supported by a powerful SDK and development tools, Azingo Mobile lets OEM, operators and ISVs build and customize innovative services and user experiences. Azingo Mobile’s one-stop-shop approach reduces development costs, shortens the time to bring new handset designs to market, and enables lower cost phones offering the latest multimedia and UI innovations.

Toshiba may end its HD DVD video business

TOKYO, Japan (AP) -- Sony's Blu-ray technology is emerging as the likely winner in the format battle for the next generation of DVD players after Toshiba appeared ready to ditch its HD DVD business.

People watch a demonstration of HD DVD at the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Such a move would help consumers know which system to invest in and would likely boost sales in Blu-ray gadgets, analysts say. But it will disappoint the 1 million people around the world estimated by Toshiba who have already bought HD DVD players.

Toshiba said Monday no decision has been made but acknowledged it had started a review of its HD DVD strategy. The comments follow a flurry of weekend Japanese media reports that the company was close to pulling the plug on the business.

A company official, speaking on condition of anonymity because she isn't authorized to speak on the matter, said a board meeting could be held as soon as Tuesday, where a decision is likely.

HD DVD has been competing against Blu-ray disc technology, backed by Sony, Matsushita, which makes Panasonic brand products, five major Hollywood movie studios and others.

Don't Miss

• Warner to go to Blu-ray format

Both formats deliver crisp, clear high-definition pictures and sound, but they are incompatible with each other, and neither plays on older DVD players. HD DVD was touted as being cheaper because it was more similar to previous video technology, while Blu-ray boasted bigger recording capacity. Both formats play on high-definition TVs.

Only one video format has been expected to emerge as the victor, much like VHS trumped Sony's Betamax in the video format battle of the 1980s.

This time, however, it appears Sony will end up on the winning side.

"If true, this will be good news for the next-generation DVD industry in clearing up the confusion for consumers because of the format competition that had curbed buying," said Koya Tabata, electronics analyst at Credit Suisse in Tokyo. "This will work toward a profit boost for Sony."

The reasons behind Blu-ray's apparent triumph over HD DVD are complex, analysts said, as marketing, management maneuvers and other factors are believed to have played into the shift to Blu-ray's favor that became more decisive during the critical holiday shopping season.

Recently, the Blu-ray disc format has been gaining market share, especially in Japan. A study on fourth quarter sales last year by market researcher BCN Inc. found that by unit volume, Blu-ray made up 96 percent of Japanese sales.

American movie studios also were increasingly lining up behind the Blu-ray standard.

Last month, Warner Brothers Entertainment decided to release movie discs only in the Blu-ray format, joining Sony Pictures, Walt Disney and News Corp.'s Twentieth Century Fox. That left only Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures and General Electric Co.'s Universal Pictures as exclusive supporters of HD DVD.

On Friday, Wal-Mart, the largest U.S. retailer, said it will sell only Blu-ray DVDs and hardware. That announcement came five days after Netflix Inc. said it will cease carrying rentals in HD DVD.

Several major American retailers have made similar decisions, including Target Corp. and Blockbuster Inc.

Despite the reports, Toshiba's stock soared 5.7 percent to 829 yen ($7.69) in Tokyo as investors cheered the likely decision as lessening the potential damage in losses in the HD DVD operations, despite the blow to Toshiba's prestige.

Sony shares rose 1.0 percent to 4,900 yen ($45.45). The Tokyo-based manufacturer declined comment on the reports about HD DVD. Sony also said it did not have numbers on how many Blu-ray players had been sold globally, or a number for Sony brand Blu-ray machines sold.

Adding to Blu-ray's momentum was the gradual increase in sales of Sony's PlayStation 3 home video-game console, which also works as a Blu-ray player. Sony has sold 10.5 million PS3 machines worldwide since the machine went on sale late 2006.

But PS3 sales have trailed the blockbuster Wii machine from Nintendo, and the game machine wasn't widely seen as that critical to the video format battle.

Microsoft's Xbox 360 game machine can play HD DVD movies, but the drive had to be bought separately, and its proliferation is believed to be limited. Toshiba said such players are included in the overall tally of 1 million HD DVD players sold so far.

Kazuharu Miura, an analyst at Daiwa Institute of Research in Tokyo, said the final holdout for HD DVD may come in personal computers, if Microsoft decides to continue to push HD DVD. But once the balance tilts in favor of one format, then the domination tends to become final, he said.

"You've seen this happen before, as in Macintosh vs. Windows," he said. "The content makers are going to choose one format, and the stores are going to want to stack their shelves with the dominant format, too."

Toshiba is expected to focus its resources on its other businesses, including computer chip production, such as flash-memory, which are used in digital cameras and cell phones.

The Nikkei, Japan's top business newspaper, reported in its Monday's editions that Toshiba plans to invest as much as 1.8 trillion yen ($16.7 billion) in two plants in Japan for its flash memory business for fiscal 2008, starting April 1. Toshiba said no decision has been made.

Microsoft’s Danger Acquisition Key to Mobile Strategy

Perhaps as much as it needs to sharpen its overall Web strategy, Microsoft is working to stay relevant in the mobile game. For the first, there’s the rocky but still viable Yahoo play. For the second, now there’s Danger.

In fact, the acquisition of Sidekick-designing Danger will pump up Microsoft’s access to and understanding of the Internet-savvy and young (or at least youthful) customer base. Heading off a planned IPO by Danger, Microsoft is bringing it into its Entertainment and Devices division. The agreement’s price point is unknown, but some reports say that an initial offering may have been doubled by Microsoft in order to prevent Google from buying the company (much easier in this case than it will be to battle the Google machine in its Yahoo bid).

Analysts see the acquisition as a tool to help Microsoft control its destiny as a software maker as consumers move steadily toward smarter smartphones that allow them to perform all the most common online activities without their PCs.

The Danger team, say analysts, has mastered the art of mobile operating system simplicity, a la Apple, which is a skill Microsoft’s mobile divisions will need in order to keep up with Symbian and Linux and Apple in the smartphone race. Windows Mobile smartphones are just 21 percent of the market.

Sony Ericsson also wowed the Mobile World Congress this week with an iPhone competitor for the enterprise set, according to CNet News.com. Its new Windows Mobile smartphone, the unfortunately named Xperia X1, sports a touch screen overlay with 100 adjustable panels to coordinate with applications. Initial reviews say it’s not as delightful as the iPhone, but it comes darned close. It’s expected to be available towards the end of this year.

In related smartphone news, Google and Nokia are doing some friendly wrangling to solidify their relationship, with Nokia adding Google search on some models, while at the same time adding GPS to some phones, a feature that competes with mobile Google Maps. Nokia is, so far, sticking with its no-Windows-Mobile policy — says Nokia. Microsoft says talks are happening, according to Sky News.

And we’ll probably want to remember this name: Andy Rubin. Interestingly, says vnunet.com, Rubin, the founder of Danger, led the Android project, which is now under Google’s wing and scaring the pudding out of smartphone makers everywhere. Except, perhaps, Apple. Andy Rubin worked there, too.

by Kachina Dunn on February 12, 2008 at 3:00 pm

Toshiba Expands Recycling Program to Include Free Computer Take-back

IRVINE, Calif. (March 6, 2007) — Demonstrating its continuing commitment to preserving the environment for future generations, Toshiba’s Digital Products Division, a division of Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc., today announced that it has enhanced its recycling initiatives with a free computer take-back program. The company also announced today it has joined the Green Electronics Council’s Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) by registering select notebook models with EPEAT, extending Toshiba’s commitment to the environment.

“Toshiba strongly believes in corporate social responsibility,” said Mark Simons, vice president and general manager, Digital Products Division, Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. “There is a universal responsibility that applies to individuals, governments and corporations to deal with the environmental consequences of products that are created, sold and used. In this spirit, our notebook computer business is taking certain actions to help protect the environment.”

To keep computers out of dumpsters and landfills, Toshiba offers to recycle its notebook computers for free with no obligation by the consumer to purchase a new Toshiba computer. Non-Toshiba notebook computers will be recycled for a small shipping fee.

In addition, Toshiba offers users the option of trading in their used, functioning computers for cash. Toshiba is providing users with a product value estimator at http://toshiba.eztradein.com/toshiba/.

Toshiba’s recycling and computer take-back initiatives are large and responsible strides to protect the environment. Proper recycling techniques ensure that minimal damage will be done to the environment as a result of improper disposal.

The Green Electronics Council estimates that over the next five years EPEAT-registered computers will positively contribute to the reduction of more than 13 million pounds of hazardous waste, more than 3 million pounds of non-hazardous waste, and save more than 600,000 Megawatts of energy – enough energy to power 60,000 homes for a year.

EPEAT is a procurement tool that enables purchasers to evaluate and select computers and monitors based upon their environmental attributes. As an EPEAT member, Toshiba submitted the Tecra® A8 and the Tecra M5, two of the company’s best-selling computers, for analysis and registration. In particular, the Tecra A8 embodies industry-leading quality and demonstrates that environmental considerations and product performance can be simultaneously achieved.

To be registered with EPEAT, Toshiba’s notebooks are required to meet the IEEE 1680-2006 standard, the first U.S. voluntary environmental guidelines for institutional purchasing decisions involving notebook and desktop computers and monitors.

“The launch of Toshiba notebooks meeting the EPEAT standards is part of Toshiba’s overall commitment to the environment,” said Craig Hershberg, director, environmental affairs, Toshiba America, Inc. “Toshiba supports EPEAT and other environmental initiatives focused on producing eco-friendly products.”

Regarding the European Union environmental directives, Toshiba unveiled its first Restriction on Hazardous Waste (RoHS)-compatible¹ notebook, the Tecra S3, for the business channel in October 2005, a full 10 months prior to the RoHS standard taking effect. Toshiba also introduced the first RoHS-compatible notebook at retail with the Satellite® A55-S1064 at Wal-Mart in December 2005.

For more information on Toshiba’s recycling and take-back programs, please visit www.toshibadirect.com.

About Toshiba America Information Systems, Inc. (TAIS)
Headquartered in Irvine, Calif., TAIS is comprised of four business units: Digital Products Division, Imaging Systems Division, Storage Device Division, and Telecommunication Systems Division. Together, these divisions provide mobile products and solutions, including industry leading portable computers; projectors; imaging products for the security, medical and manufacturing markets; storage products for automotive, computer and consumer electronics applications; and telephony equipment and associated applications.

TAIS provides sales, marketing and services for its wide range of information products in the United States and Latin America. TAIS is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, which is a global leader in high technology and integrated manufacturing of electrical and electronic components, products and systems, as well as major infrastructure systems. Toshiba has more than 172,000 employees worldwide and annual sales of over US $54 billion (FY2005). For more information on Toshiba’s leading innovations, visit the company’s Web site at www.toshiba.com.

Microsoft learning how to play the game?

ot everybody in the world uses Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser. This has always bothered Microsoft, and the company has done as much as it could to force people to use IE. So one of the minor changes in the makeover of Office Live Small Business actually may signal a major move toward reality-based thinking in Redmond: this useful service will now support Firefox.

Microsoft's insistence on requiring IE for access or downloads has not always made it popular, which is understandable, but it has also not always made Microsoft competitive, which is puzzling, because Microsoft is nothing if it's not competitive.

Some people don't use IE because they can't -- there are no IE versions for Mac and Linux, for instance. Some don't use it because they don't want to. They like Firefox or Opera or something else better. But Microsoft continues to set up access and download restrictions that require IE.

Sometimes this is merely annoying, as when you try to use Windows Home Server's remote access feature to connect across the Internet to your home PC, only to find that you are required to use IE and download ActiveX controls to do it. (The issue of ActiveX has come up yet again, by the way, with security experts again calling on Microsoft to kill ActiveX.)

Sometimes, however, Microsoft's insistence on having its own way keeps you from using a Microsoft product that could be useful. Office Live Small Business has always looked like one of those. And Microsoft's insistence that OLSM could only be used in IE seemed like a bullet aimed accurately at its own foot: if your goal is to build relationships with customers, why would you insist on setting conditions that prevent them from becoming customers?

Microsoft's Web-based business continues to lag behind Google and Yahoo!, and maybe Microsoft is finally beginning to figure out why: "Web services" are called that for a reason -- because they provide a service. On the user's terms. The successful service providers, like Google and Yahoo!, don't insist that you use a particular browser. They just work.

The genius of Google, in particular, has always emphasized doing cool things on the Web because it can, and rather than because it can make a profit. You'd think that would make it completely safe from Microsoft, which has lately seemed dedicated to profit first, cool later.

But if Microsoft is actually going to change its spots, to do things because they meet customer needs rather than just because they increase Microsoft's grasp on customer's wallets -- if Microsoft is going to let you use Firefox just because you like it better than IE, then, golly, even Google may not be safe.

Google Secrets

Google doesn't broadcast its strategic plans. Here are eight critical areas where its decisions will shape the industry.

When Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) or Oracle (NSDQ: ORCL) barrel into a market, they serve up a grand strategy and a product road map to get you there. With Google (NSDQ: GOOG), you might get a beta product that shows up on the Web, sometimes one that's less advanced than similar offerings in the market, and often with a narrowly defined goal, even if the potential for grand expansion seems obvious. CEO Eric Schmidt has said the company doesn't have a sweeping strategic vision, that "we delight in not having such strategy." Not no strategy, but one to innovate in many interesting areas and not to build just one thing.

What follows aren't the kind of secrets we dug through Google's trash to get. Google even talked a little about many of them. These are unknowns in the sense that the typically reticent Google hasn't told the world just how it intends to move down these roads. Here are some insights.

How big in the offline world?

Google is getting into something new all the time: Google Earth, a partnership with NASA, Google Pack software, voice over IP, scanning the world's books. But when it comes to revenue, the company's business can be understood on three lines: 56% from online ads running on its sites, 43% from other Web sites and magazines where Google places ads for a share of the revenue, and 1% other. Its dependence on online ads is one of the reasons Google paid $1 billion for 5% of America Online--to protect the ad revenue that partner AOL generates for Google and keep that from going to Microsoft.

Understandably, the company wants to diversify, and this month's acquisition of dMarc Broadcasting shows one way it intends to do so: by placing ads in conventional broadcast and print media. DMarc does business the way Google likes it--using software that helps automate the buying and placing of radio ads. Google plans to integrate that with its AdWords platform for placing Internet ads. How much does it like this business? It paid $102 million in cash, but the price tag could rise to $1.1 billion if the business hits all its targets the next three years. That's a lot of upside.

Google also is experimenting with print, placing ads for customers through a limited trial in PC Magazine, Maximum PC, Budget Living, and the Chicago Sun-Times. One advantage from such partnerships may be to access partners' local ad sales forces.

Google is now focused on the Internet, radio, and print media, says Patrick Keane, head of advertising sales strategy. But his description of the company's vision--delivering "accountability, efficiency, relevance, and scale to advertisers"--isn't so limited. With Google's recent decision to start selling video content such as CBS TV programs and pro basketball games, it's all but certain the company will move into enabling video advertising as well.

What about further afield, like telemarketing and direct mail? If Google goes there, it would have to do so more cautiously. The company's instant-messaging and Internet telephony application, Google Talk, is free and ad-free, but it's doubtful both of these conditions will continue indefinitely. Telemarketing over IP may not sound appealing, but marketers have yet to meet a medium they won't try.

The caveat here is that brokering the world's information presents as many pitfalls as opportunities. Given the wealth of information that Google collects about its users, figuring out what not to sell will be one of Google's most vexing challenges. --Thomas Claburn

If not a PC, then what?

Google co-founder Larry Page's speech at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this month couldn't help but be a letdown. Page made significant announcements, detailing Google's plans to sell video online and distribute a consumer software bundle called Google Pack. But with the rumor mill speculating about a "Google PC" that would be sold in partnership with Wal-Mart (which Google denied all along), nothing short of a major hardware unveiling was going to be enough.

Network computer maker Wyse Technology says it has discussed the idea with Google (NSDQ: GOOG), though the device they mulled isn't quite a PC capable of running an operating system like Windows. Wyse CEO John Kish says the companies talked about a $200 Google-branded machine that would likely be marketed in China and India through local telecom companies. Specula- tion abounds, with the biggest question being whether Google would have any interest in building some kind of consumer device.

And the answer is, almost certainly. A look at its existing hardware business suggests why.

The company in 2002 introduced its Search Appliance, a rack-mountable chassis that offers Google's search technology for businesses. A few thousand companies have bought this box, priced at $30,000 and up, or its smaller cousin, the Google Mini. But Google personnel who discuss the company's enterprise goals suggest the appliances are something of benign Trojan horses, a way to get an invitation inside the corporate firewall, typically a hostile environment for advertisers. Provide business-search technology and hope to have a future platform for more Google services and ad access to people--employees--who have jobs and money.

For Google, hardware is a doorway to the network. It doesn't make sense for the company to sell a conventional PC in established markets. But where doors to the network are scarce--in China and India, or just maybe in the multimedia living rooms of developed markets--it makes sense for Google to help supply them. Google's goal "to organize the world's information" is often cited, but without the ending "and make it universally accessible and useful." If it takes building hardware to do that, don't discount Google. --T.C.

Is there an Achilles' heel in search?

Search-related advertising is the fastest-growing segment of the online advertising business, forecast to grow 41% this year in a report from Piper Jaffray. And Google is king of that market. In December, it had 16.5 trillion sponsored link impressions, compared with Yahoo's 9 trillion, Nielsen/NetRatings says. In 2005, Google grabbed about 70% of all paid search advertising, according to researcher eMarketer.

Google must broaden its horizons. Although Yahoo also gets the bulk of its revenue from advertising--85%--those dollars are split 50-50 between search and display or "branding" ads, notes Martin Pyykkonen, an analyst with research firm Hoefer & Arnett. It had 28% of the $12.9 billion pie for all online advertising in 2005, eMarketer says.

"Google needs to make that leap into display advertising," says Charlene Li, a Forrester Research analyst. "Right now, their advertising base is really comprised of direct marketers, not traditional brand marketers, and they really don't have the expertise and credibility that Microsoft and Yahoo and AOL have in that area."

It's by no means clear that Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO) and Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), the next-biggest search-ad rivals, can catch Google, but they're continuing to invest in doing so. And don't dismiss Ask Jeeves, now that it's owned by IAC/InterActiveCorp, warns Scott Kessler, an analyst at Standard & Poor's. "I see a big, aggressive, and well- capitalized company. You have to take [CEO] Barry Diller seriously. At Fox, he was successful when people thought there was only room for three networks," Kessler says.

Google has made the most of its opportunity. Now it needs more. "What people underestimated about Google was how much growth was going to be in search-engine advertising," says Mark Mahaney, a Citigroup analyst. "But at some point, people will want to see signs of traction in other business areas." (For more, see "Google's Achilles' Heel".)--Alice LaPlante

What's next in desktop software?

Google has had client-side software for a few years, starting with the Google Toolbar in 2000. But with the Web 2.0 under development, the Internet has become a software-delivery platform, and Bill Gates is shifting Microsoft's strategy to make a set of applications, called Office Live, more Internet--and Internet-ad--friendly. Will Google respond with a full-blown set of productivity apps such as word processing?

First, it's instructive to understand each company's approach. Microsoft moves into markets with a public proclamation, a road map, and a platoon of developers. Google offers the story of co-founder Page's frustration that a new home computer didn't come with enough easy-to-use applications, and its answer of the humble Google Pack, unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show. It contains Google software, including Desktop Search and the Google Talk instant-messaging client, plus Norton AntiVirus, Ad-Aware anti-spyware, the FireFox browser, and the Adobe reader.

Google hasn't spelled out how Google Pack will evolve, other than to say it will center on organizing information and making it more accessible. "To help our end users that way, there are instances in which it makes sense to write a piece of client software, and whenever it makes sense, we'll do that," says Sundar Pichai, the company's project manager for client software.

Think of Google Pack as an access road to people's desktops. It will get people used to getting software, not just information, from Google. "It was more important that they got the installer and updater on your desktop than anything else in there," Gartner analyst Allen Weiner says. "In the Web 2.0 world, Google can position itself to be the delivery mechanism for software as a service. They could send you productivity apps that update on a regular basis."

Microsoft's "Live" ambition includes using its apps to cut into Google's market by offering targeted online ads. That's too big a threat for Google to ignore. --J. Nicholas Hoover

Your next phone company?

Voice over IP is an example of how Google enters markets with technology, rather than a strategy statement. Last year it started offering voice service through Google Talk, its instant-messaging platform, as a free beta service without ads. This month it made Google Talk compatible with several other services through open standards, but it didn't spell out a business model. "We're working hard to add features and make improvements," its Web site says. "We're just not quite ready yet to reveal the other cool things we've got planned."

Google has shown other interests in telecom. It started a minor firestorm early last year when one of its job listings sought someone with telecom experience who could buy dark fiber for the company. Then came a flurry of wireless initiatives: It began offering Wi-Fi in its Mountain View, Calif., hometown; it released a Wi-Fi VPN client called Google Secure Access; and it submitted a proposal to give all of San Francisco's residents wireless Internet access. Then Google joined with other companies to invest about $100 million in Current Communications Group, which provides broadband over power lines. The company characterized all this activity not as a passion for selling Internet access but for getting people onto the Internet, describing it with almost missionary zeal in a Wi-Fi proposal last fall: "... ubiquitous, affordable Internet access is a crucial aspect of humanity's social and economic development, and working to supply free Wi-Fi is a major step in that direction." Oh yeah, people can't be Google customers without Web access.

The company is looking to bolster its VoIP offering. One executive, who asked not to be identified, says he recently met with the company to discuss technology that could advance its VoIP services, and he says he's only one of many doing so. Among the obvious potentials for Google Talk: ad-supported voice-calling services, integrating phone number and Web searches into the interface and allowing third-party plug-ins.

Google may have a different agenda from VoIP vendors such as Skype. The company is using standards from the Jabber Software Foundation's open-source messaging initiatives that aim to make messaging clients more interoperable. That could help integrate voice with other communication methods and make voice a much bigger part of the Web, thus giving people another path to Google's door. "It's not even necessary that Google dominates," says Chris DiBona, Google's open-source program manager. No, it's just necessary for communication to thrive for Google to survive. --J.N.H.

What's under the hood?

Resisting the federal government's subpoena for search data won Google praise from privacy advocates. But that position reflects keen self-interest: guarding trade secrets about how it runs the world's best-known information factory.

Google's secrecy extends to its hardware. The company no longer volunteers details about its IT infrastructure, something IT managers would love to learn more about. Google used to be more open. In a 2003 paper, "Web Search For A Planet: The Google Cluster Architecture," Google engineers Luiz Andre Barroso, Jeffrey Dean, and Urs Holzle described the machines that answer all those search queries. Then, Google managed more than 15,000 custom-designed, commodity-class x86 servers. Today, it still runs Linux-based servers, but Google won't say how many servers and data centers it has.

Much of Google's operating infrastructure is custom made or highly customized. But one challenge it likely can't solve with its own ingenuity is heat. In 2003, its server racks drew 400 to 700 watts per square foot, considerably more than the power density of 70 to 150 watts per square foot typically found in commercial data centers. That's why Google developed and patented a special cooling baffle for its servers and why, in 2005, Barroso cautioned in a paper published by the Association of Computing Machinery, "If performance per watt is to remain constant over the next few years, power costs could easily overtake hardware costs, possibly by a large margin."

Barroso argued that chip multiprocessor technology represents the best and perhaps only way to improve the performance-per-watt ratio. With the release of energy-efficient multicore chips such as Sun's Ultra- Sparc T1, Google's appetite for commodity hardware may diminish as it opts for pricier silicon that delivers better performance per watt. The company's strategic relationship with Sun, revealed last fall, no doubt plays into this calculation.

The advantage Google gains from its customized hardware and software is performance, both in terms of the efficiency of its applications and its personnel. In a business dependent second to second on people, servers, and power, the data-center infrastructure--which some companies relegate to commodity--is the start of everything. --T.C.

Is a megadeal in the cards?

With Google sitting on more than $7.6 billion in cash and securities and about a $128 billion market capitalization, it's got the currency for a big, splashy acquisition. But Google already must integrate the 10 people a day it hires, and, at a company that values culture, mega-acquisitions could become a megadistraction. Then there's the history of such deals: AOL-Time Warner looms over any Internet match-made-in-heaven thinking.

Google hasn't been entirely on the sidelines, but it has limited acquisitions mostly to small companies that round out its technology portfolio or stretch its business model. There's the $102 million earlier this month for radio advertising firm dMarc. Back in March it bought Urchin Software, a maker of Web-analytics software that Google offers free as Google Analytics. In October 2004 it bought Keyhole, a digital-mapping startup it integrated with Google Maps six months later.

Google may have a different agenda from VoIP vendors such as Skype. The company is using standards from the Jabber Software Foundation's open-source messaging initiatives that aim to make messaging clients more interoperable. That could help integrate voice with other communication methods and make voice a much bigger part of the Web, thus giving people another path to Google's door. "It's not even necessary that Google dominates," says Chris DiBona, Google's open-source program manager. No, it's just necessary for communication to thrive for Google to survive. --J.N.H.

What's under the hood?

Resisting the federal government's subpoena for search data won Google praise from privacy advocates. But that position reflects keen self-interest: guarding trade secrets about how it runs the world's best-known information factory.

Google's secrecy extends to its hardware. The company no longer volunteers details about its IT infrastructure, something IT managers would love to learn more about. Google used to be more open. In a 2003 paper, "Web Search For A Planet: The Google Cluster Architecture," Google engineers Luiz Andre Barroso, Jeffrey Dean, and Urs Holzle described the machines that answer all those search queries. Then, Google managed more than 15,000 custom-designed, commodity-class x86 servers. Today, it still runs Linux-based servers, but Google won't say how many servers and data centers it has.

Much of Google's operating infrastructure is custom made or highly customized. But one challenge it likely can't solve with its own ingenuity is heat. In 2003, its server racks drew 400 to 700 watts per square foot, considerably more than the power density of 70 to 150 watts per square foot typically found in commercial data centers. That's why Google developed and patented a special cooling baffle for its servers and why, in 2005, Barroso cautioned in a paper published by the Association of Computing Machinery, "If performance per watt is to remain constant over the next few years, power costs could easily overtake hardware costs, possibly by a large margin."

Barroso argued that chip multiprocessor technology represents the best and perhaps only way to improve the performance-per-watt ratio. With the release of energy-efficient multicore chips such as Sun's Ultra- Sparc T1, Google's appetite for commodity hardware may diminish as it opts for pricier silicon that delivers better performance per watt. The company's strategic relationship with Sun, revealed last fall, no doubt plays into this calculation.

The advantage Google gains from its customized hardware and software is performance, both in terms of the efficiency of its applications and its personnel. In a business dependent second to second on people, servers, and power, the data-center infrastructure--which some companies relegate to commodity--is the start of everything. --T.C.

Is a megadeal in the cards?

With Google sitting on more than $7.6 billion in cash and securities and about a $128 billion market capitalization, it's got the currency for a big, splashy acquisition. But Google already must integrate the 10 people a day it hires, and, at a company that values culture, mega-acquisitions could become a megadistraction. Then there's the history of such deals: AOL-Time Warner looms over any Internet match-made-in-heaven thinking.

Google hasn't been entirely on the sidelines, but it has limited acquisitions mostly to small companies that round out its technology portfolio or stretch its business model. There's the $102 million earlier this month for radio advertising firm dMarc. Back in March it bought Urchin Software, a maker of Web-analytics software that Google offers free as Google Analytics. In October 2004 it bought Keyhole, a digital-mapping startup it integrated with Google Maps six months later.

By J. Nicholas Hoover
InformationWeek

Disney, Microsoft, HP, Others Build 'House Of The Future'

Innoventions Dream Home in Disneyland's Tomorrowland will exhibit everything from mobile phones and PCs to digital music and gaming.

The Disneyland Resort this week teamed up with Microsoft, HP, software provider Lifeware, and home builder Taylor Morrison to create an attraction featuring digital home technologies of the future.

The 5,000-square-foot Innoventions Dream Home attraction will reside in Disneyland's Tomorrowland for the purpose of introducing resort visitors to technologies that will enhance their everyday lives, according to the companies. The visitors will be able to learn about the technologies and interact with them.

"This exciting alliance gives each of our partners a forum to inspire our guests' imaginations and motivate them to incorporate and enjoy the new technologies that are available today," said Ed Grier, president of the Disneyland Resort, in a statement.

Innoventions Dream Home will exhibit everything from mobile phones and PCs to digital music and gaming. The technology will be interconnected in the home, providing visitors with a ubiquitous experience. HP is providing the "connected entertainment," Microsoft is supplying its latest home technologies, and Lifeware is adding its automation software to technologies contained in the home. Lifeware's software program works with Windows Media Center to control lighting, security, audio, and entertainment systems.

Taylor Morrison is constructing the futuristic home in Disneyland.

The new attraction builds on Walt Disney's legacy of the "House of Tomorrow," which was built in Disneyland in 1967. Then in 1998, the Innoventions attraction opened with a similar purpose of showcasing future technologies, such as voice-activated computers, high-definition TVs, smart-cars, and satellite broadcasting.

Innoventions Dream Home is expected to open in its doors to the public in May.

By Elena Malykhina
InformationWeek

The Technical Aspects Of Ipods

Pods are convenient media players which was launched in October 2001. It was a model of media player which was designed as well as marketed only by Apple initially. iPods have become a very popular device among the youth due to its compact size and great use. The most important reason for the popularity of iPods is its portable size.

Apple offers you a wide range of design with features ranging from a simple music player to a 2 inch wide screen for video viewing. Among these, the most popular design even now, is the simple digital audio player. The player consists of a central click wheel which is one of the reasons that makes iPod very easy and fast to use.

The iPod shuffle is different from the common range of iPod. The iPod mini was commonly preferred until the introduction of iPod nano. The iPods, like many other digital audio players, also have the capacity to work like an external data storage device i.e. you can store data in an iPod just like any other storing device.

The software generally used for the conversion of music into the iPod`s format is the Apple iTunes. iTunes have the capacity to create a complete music library on your computer as well as play music for you from a CD. Along with these you can also transfer videos, photos as well as calendars into the device that would help you.

Apple, the manufacturer of iPod chiefly focused on the development of its user interface and its ease of use for us, instead of its technical capabilities. The approach has got mixed response from the users.

How would you judge the quality of any electronic equipment? The answer is its durability, guarantee as well as its connectivity. And in the case of iPods, for better connectivity a Fire Wire connection was used to connect it to your computer which not only allows data updates from your computer but also recharges your iPod`s battery. You can also recharge the battery with the help of a power adapter.

For allowing USB or Fire Wire connectivity you can include a dock connector. The dock connector also brings you opportunities like exchanging sound, power and data with an iPod that has actually created a wide market of accessories. The iPod shuffle of second generation uses a single 3.5 mm jack that works both as a headphone jack and as a data port. The iPods of fourth generation as well the iPod mini recharges itself from the USB connection itself. Due to the widespread adoption of USB 2.0, Apple discontinued the use of Fire Wire for the purpose of data transmission.

With the growing popularity of iPods, a large number of accessories are now available for you to use with it. Among these, a large fraction is created by third party companies; however Apple has also created some of the accessories like iPod Hi-Fi. The range of accessories has grown so much that the complete market of iPod and its accessories has been named as iPod ecosystem!

There are a number of accessories that could add features to your iPod that are normally included in other music players, but are not available on an iPod. For e.g. FM radio tuners, sound recorders, visual/audio cables for connectivity to television as well as wired remote controls. Likewise, there are other accessories that would offer unique features to your iPod like Nike+iPod pedometer as well as a camera connector to an iPod.

The excitement instilled by the looks and the Zen-like simplicity of the device has certainly raised the level of expectation from the entire consumer electronics industry. The iPod has changed our lives in a number of ways. Its insular nature shields us in public places with a collection of our favorite music!

by Roberto Sedycias

Knowing The Basics Of Spyware

With a lot of folks owning computers nowadays and the higher number of internet usage the demands for internet security has actually gone upwards. Everybody truly needs to think about becoming a lot more familiar with viruses such as spyware that can attack their computers at anytime and they need to know that their are several things that they can do to keep these kind of thing from occurring.

Spyware is as a matter of fact a certain software system that grants itself permission to just install itself right on to your computer without you ever being aware that it's even there. It may enter in several forms a few of those being malware or adware. Some of the numerous various things that these things may do are slowing down the speed of your computer enormously, they can have the power to produce pop up ads all over your pages that you try and pull up, once you try and get at one certain website spyware could actually make you go to a different website before you even figure out what is taking place.

These things will essentially take charge over your computer right before your very eyes without you being capable to stop it unless you get software such as a spyware protection program. Or there is also a couple of freebie spyware and adware program cleaners that you are able to get access to online that may at the least scan your computer for you, presenting you all the numerous things that it has already managed to do to your computer and to your files.

Anyplace you might visit online just know that spyware can be right there, watching your every move. Every stroke of your keys may be monitored through spyware. Any click of the keys can supply the information that it is calling for in order to keep on track of your every move and to leap on any opportunity to get that information that you don't want to share with just anybody.

I don't know if you are among the several that download music over the internet or not. If you are then you could be at serious risk of your computer being turned into a public computer for those unwelcome spyware, adware and malware viruses that are real and have been getting into our systems for quite some time now. Anytime you download anything on your computer you are increasing your risk of your computer being infected with these viruses.

Additional safe thing to do is make certain you have a pop up blocker added, it will help keep out many of these unwanted threats that are out there. Remember that your firewall should at all times be turned on while you are surfing the internet, this also can assist keeping these things away. The best thing to invest in though is a anti virus protection program that will cost you some money but I promise you it will be well worth the price.

Everybody is at jeopardy of this horrible security menace. I know by now you have heard of identity theft. Several of these things are occurring due to the uninvited access to our personal information that you all have stored on your computers. Spyware is to fault for a great deal of this trespassing behavior that is happening far too much.

Warning is your computer infected with dangerous Spyware or Adware? Chances are it is. Why? Because Spyware is Everywhere! And if you are infected, your privacy--and your sanity--could be at risk. So why take the chance? Find out right now if your computer is infected. Free download available for a limited time! Reserve your copy right now! http://www.tinyurl.com/2qgsjw

Indonesia to cut mobile tariff

Voila. Undoubtedly, Indonesia's cellular industry will be one of the important markets in the region. The latest government decision on the long-awaited revision to the interconnection tariffs has confirmed it.

Tera-scale Computing

By Lin Chao
Publisher and Editor, Intel Technology Journal

Engineers and researchers in Intel's advanced research labs have been investigating ideas associated with tera-scale (10¹²) computing power (trillions of operations per second) to help solve highly complex problems, do critical mathematical analysis, or run computationally intensive applications more efficiently and in real time. This investigation is based on the growing need for intensive computation, visualization, or manipulation and management of massive amounts of data. We anticipate trillions of calculations to occur within a second (teraflops) to achieve performance and productivity to run these complex scientific and commercial applications.

Our devices will be able to comprehend data better and use this knowledge to act on our behalf. To do so, computers must have the ability to think in terms of models—digital "models" of people, places, and information.

The theme of the eight papers in this Q3'07 Intel Technology Journal is "Tera-scale Computing Research." Future tera-scale computers will be based on 10s to 100s of integrated processor cores. We discuss the research work in progress at Intel's labs. The first six papers look at tera-scale architecture research and discuss both its inherent challenges and some potential solutions to those challenges. In particular, the first paper looks at tera-scale architecture and design tradeoffs. With its very high level of integration and the presence of heterogeneous building blocks, a modular and scalable on-chip interconnect is required. Based on the organization, architectural building blocks, and physical design constraints, we expect ring, 2D-mesh, or similar topologies to be an attractive option. The second paper reviews future tera-scale architecture's inclusion of accelerator cores alongside Intel^® Architecture cores. We show how an accelerator exoskeleton can provide a shared Virtual Memory (VM) heterogeneous multi-threaded programming paradigm for these accelerators by adding extensions to the CPU instruction set and software tools that have an Intel Architecture (IA) look-n-feel. The third paper describes the package technology required for tera-scale computing needs. The scope and focus of the paper are primarily design and electrical performance challenges. We discuss a roadmap that evolves from today's off-package memory to complex on-package integrated memory architectures. The fourth paper presents the design and implementation of a runtime environment for tera-scale platforms. We discuss the design and implementation of a Many-Core RunTime (McRT) environment—a prototype tera-scale runtime environment. We present simulation results from a tera-scale simulator to show that McRT enables excellent scalability on tera-scale platforms. The fifth paper proposes a hardware scheme to accelerate dynamic task scheduling. To harness the computing resources of tera-scale computing architecture cores, applications must expose their thread-level parallelism to the hardware. We explore hardware schedulers that do this for large-scale multiprocessor systems: they decompose parallel sections of programs into many tasks and let a task scheduler dynamically assign tasks to threads. In the sixth paper we start by highlighting tera-scale potential in datacenter environments. We show how a multi-tier datacenter workload that required tens (to hundreds) of platforms in the past can potentially map onto one (or a few) single-socket tera-scale platforms running VMs and thereby create Datacenter-on-Chip (DoC) architectures.

The remaining papers then review tera-scale applications on media mining and physical simulations. Media mining can help us more easily retrieve, organize, and manage the exponentially growing amount of media data. The seventh paper explores several usage models in media mining. To efficiently use the processing power provided by multi-core processors, we studied common parallelization schemes and propose a general parallel framework for these media-mining applications. And finally, in the eighth paper of this Q3'07 Intel Technology Journal, we study physical simulation applications in two broad categories: production physics and game physics. After parallelization, the benchmark applications achieve parallel scalabilities of thirty to sixty times on a simulated chip-multiprocessor with 64 cores.

So, how does tera-scale computing affect our lives at home? In our future homes, we will use tera-scale computers for better personal media management, immersive and personalized entertainment, educational collaborations and personal health visualization and management, to name a few examples. I am especially excited that this issue of the Intel Technology Journal has this topic as its focus: I am part of the team working on tera-scale computing research in Intel's labs. Tera-scale computing will play a major role in shaping Intel's computer architecture for the next decade. We are excited to continue our work to realize these possibilities.