"It's yet another in a long series of diversions in an attempt to avoid responsibility." - Chris Knight
Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
Happy Holidays from Google Doodle #3 For 2007
December 23rd, 2007 by iDunzo
Here is Google’s third holiday Doodle for counting down the days until Christmas:
Two more fun and colorful holiday logos from Google coming soon.
Posted in Google + Search + Technology | 
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Happy Holidays from Google Doodle #2 For 2007
December 22nd, 2007 by iDunzo
Here is Google’s second holiday Doodle for counting down the days until Christmas:
Be sure to keep a watchful eye out for more fun and colorful holiday logos from Google over the next few days.
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Mac Users Pay For Music, PC Owners Steal It
December 21st, 2007 by iDunzo
According to market researcher NPD, PC owners are too cheap to pay for music downloads, while Mac users have an Apple-shaped halo when it comes to piracy: 50% of them have paid to download music versus just 16% of PC users.
Side note for the fanboys, Macs are PC’s too – Personal Computer’s. Maybe I should have said Mac verses Windows? Arrrg!
The report also tries to claim that Mac owners are buying more CDs than their PC brethren, but the figures are so close – 32% against 28% – it seems statistically insignificant.
The difference between 50 and 16, though, is big.
Who knows why? Are Mac people more honest? Higher earning? Or are they just too stupid to work out BitTorrent?
Posted in Apple + Microsoft + Music + Technology | 1 Comment »
Happy Holidays from Google Doodle #1 2007
December 21st, 2007 by iDunzo
Google is sending out holiday greetings by counting the days with fun and festive holiday Doodle logos:
Keep an eye out for more fun and colorful holiday logos from the big “G”… no, not the Grinch, Google of course!
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More BlackBerry 9000 Details Leaked
December 20th, 2007 by iDunzo
The Boy Genius Report has the scoop on the much-anticipated BlackBerry 9000 smartphone, yet again. Let’s take a look at what this touch-screen smartphone promises.
Last month BGR leaked details about the 9000-series, but now it seems they’ve got more solid information:
The BlackBerry 9000 device (not series) has been confirmed with screen size of 480 x 320, although the physical dimensions are unknown at this time. Think of this device as the elder sibling to the BlackBerry 8320. Like it’s small screen counterpart, it will operate with a quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio (850MHz, 900MHz, 1800MHz, and 1900MHz) and will feature 802.11a/b/g Wi-Fi capabilities. This will be a full QWERTY device, as well.
The BlackBerry 9000 will feature the same general OS platform, although it will launch with version 4.3.2. Coincidentally, OS 4.3.2 will potentially be in the future roadmaps for all 8000 series devices, sans the 8700 family (although that may change).
It looks like the 9000 will, however, feature a QWERTY keyboard, even though it will also be touch-screen device. Unfortunately, the 9000 will not include HSDPA, which is a big disappointment:
To recap, Research In Motion will soon launch the BlackBerry 9000 handheld, which will feature a larger screen, a new OS update, most likely a new full QWERTY keyboard layout (which may or may not be a touch screen keyboard), but without HSDPA or UMTS capabilities.
The BlackBerry 9000 doesn’t look as impressive now as it did a few weeks ago, but this looks like a more realistic device.
I have to ask, just how revolutionary will this phone be without HSDPA? How long must we wait for a truly revolutionary touch-screen 3G smartphone? What do you think?
Posted in Technology + Toys & Gadgets + Wireless | Comments Off on More BlackBerry 9000 Details Leaked
Google-DoubleClick Deal Gets FTC’s Blessing
December 20th, 2007 by iDunzo
After eight long months, the Federal Trade Commission finally approved Google’s $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick in a 4-1 vote, concluding that the deal is “unlikely to substantially lessen competition.”
In its public statement, the FTC explicitly said privacy concerns are not its problem. Privacy issues are “not unique to Google and DoubleClick,” the FTC statement said, and even if they were, the agency denied it could do anything about it.
“As the sole purpose of federal antitrust review of mergers and acquisitions is to identify and remedy transactions that harm competition.
The FTC lacks the legal authority to block the transaction on grounds, or require conditions to this transaction, that do not relate to antitrust.”
The DoubleClick acquisition, announced in April, comes on the heels of a few similar deals from competitors: Yahoo has spent nearly $1 billion building up its advertising arsenal in the last six months.
In July, it closed on its acquisition of Right Media ($650 million) and in October it closed on BlueLithium ($300 million), an online behavioral ad company. Meanwhile, Microsoft bought online ad company aQuantive for roughly $6 billion in August.
The FTC didn’t take nearly as long to approve any of Google’s competitors’ deals. Yahoo closed on BlueLithium in a month, and on Right Media in about three months. And it only took Microsoft roughly three months to complete the aQuantive acquisition.
Privacy groups were quick to chastise the FTC for not probing the privacy angle harder. Jeff Chester, executive director, Center for Digital Democracy, who has been one of the most vocal critics of the deal, is already calling for Congressional oversight hearings into the FTC’s probe of the merger.
“The FTC is supposed to protect the privacy of Americans in the digital age. The excuse offered by the majority of the commission–that consumer privacy can’t be addressed by current antitrust law–reveals a lack of leadership and determination to protect U.S. consumers.”
Posted in Google + Microsoft + Technology + Web | Comments Off on Google-DoubleClick Deal Gets FTC’s Blessing
