July

YouTube Leanback Freshens Up for Google TV's Debut

Peter Kafka in Media on October 15, 2010 at 6:00 pm PT

One of the things that Google thinks you’ll do with Google TV is watch a lot of Google video, via YouTube. That’s why the search giant introduced a “Leanback” version of the site, designed for couch-bound surfers, over the summer. And that’s why Google has freshened up Leanback for this weekend: Saturday is the first chance consumers will have to get their hands on Google TV for themselves.

Global Chip Sales Down 21.3 Percent Year-to-Date. But Hey, They Rose Five Percent in August!

John Paczkowski in News on October 2, 2009 at 9:13 am PT

Worldwide sales of semiconductors in August rose five percent over July, racking up their sixth month of consecutive gains, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association. Great news were it not for the fact that at $19.1 billion, August sales were down a horrific 16.1 percent year-over-year. Furthermore, for the first eight months of 2009, sales are at $133.8 billion–about 21.3 percent below what they were at this time last year.

NPD: Mac Sales Up Seven Percent, iPod Sales Down 16 Percent

John Paczkowski in News on September 14, 2009 at 1:15 pm PT

Apple’s September quarter is shaping up to be a good one, if the latest metrics from NPD as reported by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster are any indication. According to the research outfit, Mac sales for July and August are up seven percent year-over-year.

"Hummer of Cellphones" a Bestseller at AT&T

John Paczkowski in News on September 8, 2009 at 8:15 am PT

Apple’s iPhone continues to be AT&T’s marquee handset, though the data-guzzling “Hummer of cellphones,” as the New York Times has dubbed it, has inspired widespread customer dissatisfaction with the carrier’s network. Indeed, according to Piper Jaffray, the iPhone 3G and 3GS are AT&T’s top-selling phones.

“Hummer of Cellphones” a Bestseller at AT&T

John Paczkowski in News on September 8, 2009 at 8:15 am PT

Apple’s iPhone continues to be AT&T’s marquee handset, though the data-guzzling “Hummer of cellphones,” as the New York Times has dubbed it, has inspired widespread customer dissatisfaction with the carrier’s network. Indeed, according to Piper Jaffray, the iPhone 3G and 3GS are AT&T’s top-selling phones.

MySpace, Facebook Move Lots of Display Ads, Not So Much Money

Peter Kafka in Media on September 1, 2009 at 1:19 pm PT

Just how big are MySpace and Facebook? Big enough to account for nearly one in five of the display ads Web marketers buy in the U.S. That has nothing to do the number of dollars the two social networks generate, since their ad impressions are famously cheap. But at least it gives you a sense of the services’ potential.

How to Kill the Rest of Your Friday

Peter Kafka in Media on July 10, 2009 at 12:25 pm PT

Let’s be honest. You’re not getting anything productive done with the rest of the day. Why not sit back and watch a couple of interesting ads before the weekend starts?

Is Bigger Better? Here Come the Supersized Web Ads.

Peter Kafka in Media on June 29, 2009 at 9:01 pm PT

Earlier this year, an online publishing trade group promised to get its members to start running new, bigger, harder-to-ignore ads by July. So here they are: The Online Publishers Association says 37 sites, including the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and CNN.com, will start selling the plus-sized ads this week. Now we’ll see if they work.

Upgrading to the iPhone 3G S

Walt Mossberg in Mossberg’s Mailbox on June 25, 2009 at 3:05 pm PT

Walt Mossberg answers readers’ questions on AT&T’s upgrade policy for the iPhone 3G, importing data on the new Palm Pre and the glare on Mac Books.