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Chrome OS: Internet Failing at PC > PC Failing at Internet

Unless you were hiding under a rock for most of the day yesterday, you're aware by now that Google held a press event at which the search giant pulled back the curtain on ChromeOS, the OS that's really a browser (and is based on the browser that's really an OS).

The Secrets Within Cosmic Dust

At the threshold of a sterile lab at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, I pull on a white clean-room suit, a surgical cap and mask, booties and latex gloves.

Under The Hood: Google News & Ranking Stories

Forget PageRank, at least if you’re a news publisher looking to do well in Google News.

Apple is Not Evil. iPhone Developers are Stupid.

The fundamental problem on the iPhone is not Apple’s App Store approval policies, but the iPhone developers’ arrogant disdain for Web technologies.

Apple’s Mistake

I don't think Apple realizes how badly the App Store approval process is broken.

How Video Is Changing the Internet

The rise of video streaming is dramatically affecting the Internet, according to a two-year study of Internet traffic trends that Arbor Networks recently presented to the North American Network Operators Group.

How Steve Brill Has Adjusted His Pay-For-News Pitch

Because it’s my job, I’ve followed pretty much everything Steve Brill has said in public about Journalism Online, the pay-for-news firm he launched in April with Gordon Crovitz and Leo Hindrey.
More Voices Inside »

About Voices

This is a section of the All Things Digital Web site featuring posts from around the Web, from other Dow Jones properties and also original pieces we solicit. The section is now explicitly labeled that it comes “from other Web sites.”

Regarding third-party posts: We are trying to point readers of this site to other posts from around the Web that we admire and are trying to do so in the quickest manner possible.

That is why we have made even more changes to Voices to ensure we do this in the most transparent and timely way. While we don't expect that everyone will agree with our policies, we have made changes that reflect our intent in pointing to content outside our site.

So here is exactly what we do.

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All Things Digital Widgets

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

MediaMemo

The Cable Guys Ask For Some Love

carey_cable_guyA year ago, when Time Warner Cable and Viacom sparred over renewal fees, Viacom took out ads asking consumers for sympathy. Today, faced with the prospect of similar fights with the likes of News Corp. and Scripps, Time Warner Cable is launching its own appeal. Good luck with that. Read More »

Digital Daily

US Senators Tell EU to Approve Oracle-Sun Deal … Typical Americans

With Sun Microsystems beginning to founder as it awaits European Commission clearance of its acquisition by Oracle’s, a group of U.S. Senators is urging the EC to speed up its approval of the deal. In an open letter, the group essentially tells European regulators to “get on with it,” warning that further delay could result in additional layoffs at Sun. Read More »

iPhone Users: We’ll Pay for Content

for the birdsHow do you get Web users to pay for content? Get an iPhone in their hands. That’s one conclusion you can draw from a new survey, which shows that people who own the Apple handsets are more willing to pay for stuff than the average Internet surfer. Read More »

Apple to Psystar: And Don’t Get Any Bright Ideas About a Black Friday Sale, Either

steveHaving diligently hewn Psytar’s legal coffin over the past year and a half, Apple has now taken up its hammer and set about nailing the Mac clone maker into it. This week the company called for a permanent injunction against Psystar’s operations. Read More »

BoomTown

Viral Video: The Muppets Do “Bohemian Rhapsody”

queen2 While BoomTown is trapped on, oops, fully enjoying an overnight train trip to Portland for the holidays (and just beginning to sweat from not enough broadband), here’s a very funny video of the Muppets doing Queen. The puppets–part of Disney’s Muppets Studio–just got themselves a channel on YouTube and this is one of their most popular posts so far. Read More »

Voices

Trying to Save the Web’s Shortcuts

The Internet Archive and more than 20 Web companies are banding together to preserve the historical records of the abbreviated Internet addresses that are passed around on services such as Twitter. Services such as Bit.ly and TinyURL allow consumers to convert a lengthy Web address into a miniaturized one. They have soared in popularity in recent years with the advent of Twitter, which limits users to 140 characters per post. Read More »

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

What’s Really Behind the Rupe-a-Dope With Google and Microsoft? Here Are Five Possibilities!

lolcat-invented-dark-side There certainly is a lot of noisy swirl of late around the escalating fight between Google and some traditional media companies over content online. The loudest voice in this fight has clearly been News Corp. kingpin Rupert Murdoch, who seemingly has not met a television interviewer of late he did not regale with tales of the search giant’s nefariousness. Murdoch has also tried to get Google’s biggest nemesis, Microsoft, involved in what has become a wrestling match over the future of news. But what’s really happening here? Here are five possibilities to consider. Read More »

Thankful Yet? Online Ad Revenue Improving, but Slooooowly.

half-fullI’d like to say this is a half-full, half-empty scenario. But the more I think about it, the more I’m thinking the latter. Web ads improved over the last three months, but compared to last year, we’re still behind. And last year was terrible. Read More »

Voices

VC-Backed Company Pushes Envelope With Postmarked Email Service

With more people emailing and fewer people sending physical mail in recent years, the U.S. Postal Service is taking steps to move into the digital world–and using a venture-backed company to do so. Goodmail Systems Inc. has partnered with Epostmarks Inc. to launch a product, Postmarked Email, that has the approval and protection of the U.S. Postal Service. Read More »

Crikey! Eh? Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Cleared in Australia and Canada.

crocodile_ballmer_bartzthumb They’re grinning like a shot fox up at Microsoft today now that the company’s advertising partnership with Yahoo has been cleared by antitrust regulators in Australia and Canada. Read More »

Microsoft CFO Liddell Departs (Kiwi-Lovers Mourn); Klein Becomes New Numbers Dude

ChrisLiddell_L.JPG Microsoft CFO Chris Liddell is leaving the software giant at the end of the year and will be replaced by longtime Microsoft finance exec Peter Klein. A Microsoft spokesman said Liddell wants to pursue jobs beyond his finance role outside the company. BoomTown always enjoyed his adorkable New Zealand accent, even when it was talking econalypse 24/7. I have no idea what Klein sounds like, but he currently serves as CFO of Microsoft’s Business Division, which is one of the company’s largest units. Read More »

Real-Time Data Start-Ups Carve Out Niches as Revenue Question Looms

With Twitter exploding–and the focus on real time data exploding along with it–there are a number of new companies that are seeking to develop more specific applications of this technology. Read More »

Does This Mean We Can Expect a Live Nation “iTunes Convenience Fee”?

metallicaThis year, Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, will put on some 22,000 live shows–each one attended by carping about the asinine “convenience” and “courtesy” charges the company likes to tack on to ticket purchases. But much as concertgoers might loathe the idea of giving Live Nation even more of their money, they may soon do so. Because beginning today, the company is offering exclusive audio and video recordings of some of its events through iTunes. Read More »

Google CEO: A New Iraq Means Business Opportunities

Google’s chief executive Eric Schmidt said during a trip to Baghdad this week that Iraq’s stabilization could lead to business opportunities in the country. Mr. Schmidt was part of a delegation, led by Peter Pace, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to encourage business development in Iraq. Read More »

Asana Gets $9 Million (No, It’s Not a Yoga Stance–It’s a Workplace Productivity Start-Up From Former Facebookers)

workyoga Yet another goofy Silicon Valley name did not prevent Asana–the productivity software start-up founded by former Facebookers Dustin Moskovitz and Justin Rosenstein–from nabbing $9 million in funding from Benchmark Capital and Andreessen Horowitz. The round, which was announced today, will be used to turbocharge Asana and its small team, who are aiming at the very dull and unexciting but very large and problematic workplace collaboration and communications market. In Sanskrit, “asana” means “sitting down” and refers to strong but relaxed postures in yoga–so presumably, Moskovitz and Rosenstein are trying to help frustrated workers achieve a digital form of nirvana. Read More »

Earlier Posts

There's more good stuff on BoomTown, Digital Daily, MediaMemo and Voices

Hunting Down TV Shows Online

Katherine Boehret looks at Clicker.com, which helps viewers find their favorite shows online faster. Read More »

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