Vista or no vista..!

Vista or no vista...like waiting for Godot.

Finally here, almost there, not really anywhere.

Can it halt the software as services march - or OSX charge?

Probably not. Sorry Bill. Goodbye Jim. Enjoy your new Mac!

Google sell digital books - why?

So Google's about to start selling digital books. Oh God, really? How? Why? Not now... please!

I hear readers scream out.

A few short months after Sony launched the Sony Connect service and device, intended to do for books what Apple has done for music (right...), Google seems in on the game too.

Does this mean that we are finally ready for the online book revolution? Not on your iPod! The world is about as ready to devour digital novels as they would swig digital M&M's.

Lets face it, there is not one compelling reason to switch from paper books. They are portable, cheap and easy to read. Digital readers are expensive and about as easy to read as Tolstoy.

Plus, people still enjoy building libraries and showing off books on coffee tables etc.

Is there any justification for the digital book? We think not, or at least not until someone cracks low cost printing that produces good looking in-house/in-copy-store versions. A photo printer for books.

I could well see buying a digital book to archive permanently so long as I could print out a sexy looking version whenever I needed it (for less than buying it in the store). And if I could even choose my own dust cover design? Well, now I'm getting mildly excited.

Interested HP?

2007 - What will be hot in tech?

2007 looks set to deliver two hotter than hot tech trends/realities.

First up will be the battle for video over the Internet and our very own living rooms. Help!

Expect Microsoft and Apple to dominate. Microsoft using video games and the XBox as their Trojan horse while the company formally known as Apple Computers will ride the popularity of iTunes to inject Apple TV's into the back of countless TV's.

Video over the Internet will continue to be dominated by Google (YouTube), MySpace, AOL and Yahoo (who may be forced to merge or get swallowed by Microsoft). iTunes will be the only destination to make any money. DVD sales will go the way of CD sales - down the toilet!

The second most sizzling sector of 2007 will be mobile - finally!

Not because cellphone users will approach 3 billion or because more than 1 billion handsets will be sold. Neither will it be thanks to the gradual and painful roll out of 3G et al speedier networks. It will not be thanks to mobile Internet killer (Bill) applications or mobile TV.

It will be thanks to two impending and growing threats to the inflexible and stagnant mobile phone companies - Wi-Fi and Apple's iPhone. The one-two from a competing network's unending proliferation and power plus a computer company's real deal product will jolt the rest of the industry into untold innovations and partnerships.

The mobile phone operators will finally open their networks to the real Internet and stop hogging their highways. As a result consumers will no longer get ripped off or disappointed. The mobile Internet will become a reality and mobile network providers will realize that if the only let go they will make money out of this game. If not - bye, bye revenue growth.

All in all 2007 looks quite exciting. Particularly if you're Apple, Google, News Corp or Disney. The rest will scramble. Some successfully and some not. Enjoy the ride.

Apple to launch the iTV in 2008!

Apple yet again rocked the tech industry by simultaneously and synchronously shaking up both the mobile space and our living rooms. All with just two products; the iPhone (unless of course Cisco have their way) and the Apple TV. How 'du jour' is that?

Enough to ensure that Apple's shares shot up while mobile handset makers throttled down. Microsoft's remained as flat as a pancake/Zune on its back.

And I was about to go and buy a video iPod - no longer. How many others will follow suit?

Apple's decision to call their new PC/Mac to TV set top box the Apple TV as opposed to the iTV presumably means that one day they will create an all in one intelligent TV with the Apple TV embedded.

The iTV. 2008? Probably...

Skype duo at it again!

First they brought us illegal file sharing and proved that Internet lawsuits can abound. Then they rattled global telecom companies with almost free Internet telephony for the masses.

And if you believe the latest hype the Skype duo are about to shake the world of Internet TV/video (hasn't YouTube already done that?) with their latest and greatest venture bizarrely named The Venice Project. I guess they like gondolas.

OK, so their company nomenclature leaves much to be desired, but you've got to hand it to the two Scandi's, they sure know how to create hype, cash and intrigue. The latter obviously fueling the first two like gas on flames.

As Google's real asset is their massive on-demand platform that serves up everything from search to real-time word processors, the Kazaa kids core invention is file-sharing, legally or illegally. First they applied it to digital music, then telephony and now Web TV.

In the first two instances the industries they attacked are still reeling from their affects even though with digital music a la Kazaa they ultimately let iTunes take over the show.

So what next I hear you say? How about Web books? Na. What about consumer software? Na. Bandwidth sharing? Nope, Fon's already done that. Mind you they have invested in them.

Maybe The Venice Project will be it and like so many filthy rich and slightly egotistical (don't they always go hand in hand) businessfolk they will become media barons on the back of it. Hey, if Branson can do it... And no investors here. Their own company with their very own wads of cash bank rolling it and two plucky fingers to Ebay.

Murdoch move aside.

Can two techies really create the next CBS? Maybe. And if so, now is as good a time as any. Watch out Google and Yahoo! Hello real Web TV - I hope.

Will the mobile Internet ever take off?

With this planet gradually moving towards 3 billion mobile phone users, it is time to ask whether the mobile Internet will ever really happen.

If you talk to the telecoms and tech industry they are all resoundingly positive. "Isn't the mobile Internet already a given?"

If you talk to the average user you hear an entirely different story. "I just use my phone to make calls."

Will the mobile Internet ever become reality?

Well, maybe, but certainly not before a few things happen:
1. Smartphones become a big selling category (and the devices get smaller/lighter).
2. Mobile phone operators give up their walled gardens and become access providers and not access monopolizers.
3. Hi-speed, next generation 3G (called HSPDA) becomes widely available.
4. Compelling mobile Internet applications take off. Not including texting, email, music or games downloads. (Come on Google et al!)
5. Mobile Internet browsers become more sophisticated.

The above barriers should all be removed by 2010, but ultimately it will be up to the industry to excite and entice us consumers. Maybe Apple will do it with their soon to be launched iPhone. They sure shook up the once equally unexciting digital music market.

What a shame for the mobile phone operators if they need a catalyst like Apple to shake the mobile Internet into shape.

All my friends are switching to Apple!

As 2006 gradually winds to a close, like a drunkard idling home after closing time, I am becoming aware of a year end trend. And no, I have not been drinking.

Lots of my friends are talking about switching to Apple computers for their home/personal life. Added to that, whenever I am in a public place (cafe, airport, library etc) I get approached (after being spotted using my Apple MacBook Pro) for advice on switching.

I switched over to Apple ten months ago as soon as Apple moved to Intel chips and I have never looked back. Now granted, I am a writer, photographer and film maker and as a result in the sweet spot of Apple users, but I have to say that switching to Apple today could be a no-brainer.

You get all the benefits of Apple hardware, support and media oriented software and services AND you can still run Windows. Plus Microsoft Office for the Mac is great and compatibility issues seem largely in the past.

Connecting your iMac to an iPod and the iPhone (starting in January), then sharing music, movies and more across Apple's AirPort Express and iTV swiftly and easily turns your home into a C21 media hub.

With the added benefit of Apple Stores which provide free advice and tech support I am not surprised that so many people are switching. And the new Intel Dual-core chips make any Apple lightening fast.

Where will it all end? I could even imagine Apple getting a 20% share of the US PC market. From there its anyone's guess.

Google go mobile crazy!

Google´s going mobile at breakneck speed.

Today YouTube announced an exclusive partnership with Verizon to offer videos to Vcast users in the US.

And Google are ramping up ALL their applications for mobile usage as well as partnering up with the operators to offer mobile search and text based ads.

Given that over 1 billion cell phones will be sold wordwide in 2007 you can´t exactly blame them.

iPod's latest threat - the iPhone!?

Some smart alec Wall Street analyst has just decided that the biggest threat to Apple's iPod franchise is going to be Apple's iPhone.

Right...

Proving that Wall Street analysts are dangerous as hell and that Apple have no outside competition. I plan to own both an iPod and iPhone. Figure that one out Mr analyst!

Video site offers $400 per video

Break.com, one of the rising number of Web sites offering user-generated videos to rival the likes of YouTube and Revver, just announced it would nearly double the amount of money it pays for video clips to $400.

Break.com's CEO said that so far the site has seen little correlation between higher pay and the quality of videos it receives(???).

So why hike the money offered (Der)? Oh well...

Apple and Google soar!

Apple and Google defied stock market gravity again this week as their stocks hit all time highs.

Google 'cos they can finally claim to be the Microsoft beater everyone has been waiting for and Apple 'cos they are about to launch the iPhone.

Google is now worth over $150bn, which is over half that of Microsoft and four times Yahoo's. Apple is worth more than Dell.

Plus Google office applications will hurt Microsoft more than anyone realizes and Apple will gain 20% of the PC market. Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Yahoo beats Google to newspaper deal

Yahoo stole Google's deal with 176 US newspapers in a sign that they are not totally beat by Google yet.

Yahoo has announced ad, search, jobs listings and local content deals with members of seven major chains including Hearst and Scripps, who are responsible for more than 12 million copies sold daily in 38 states. The chains involved in the deal also include Belo Corp., Cox Newspapers Inc., Register Co., Lee Enterprises Inc. and MediaNews Group.

For Yahoo can still claim the greatest number of viewers and supremacy as an Internet media story. YouTube may alter that, but Yahoo have proved that Google need get off the fence about whether they are search company or media portal. The reality is they are both.

Dell, the new IBM!!

Dell proved today that they are fast becoming the corporate with a snooze factor to make the most steadfast tech aficionado drop off, as they announced revenues up 3%, practically in line with inflation.

Earnings were boosted though, sending their shares up, thanks to selling more high margin stuff. And even their accounting irregularities fail to excite!

Yep, that's what we can look forward to with Dell, profits taking priority over revenue growth, which means few exciting innovations from them (not that they ever had many), a drive for higher quality, higher priced computers and manufacturing excellence.

Well, that tops it for me. Night, night Dell. Zzzzzzzzzzzz...

TV on your handset in the UK

Get one of these babies in the UK (the Sony Ericsson W950i silly), get it from 3 (the mobile network provider) and you also get Sling Media inside which means you get your favorite TV shows on the move.

Nice one!

Gates on Zune - what a loon!

Billy boy Gates has stated that he sees the Zune player as the central device in a world of connected devices all sharing files and media with each other. A PC, a Smartphone, games console, car, TV, etc etc, you get it.

Powered by which software?

This is the age old concept of a remote control for your life. Unfortunately for Microsoft I think that device is much more likely to be a mobile phone than a digital music player. And Windops Mobile hardly owns that space.

Maybe that means Microsoft will follow Apple with their own iPhone! Mmm...