Seth Gilbert, 01-18-2008
Even as reports are starting to indicate there’s no cause for concern, one of the most common complaints (or perhaps concerns) raised about Apple’s new Macbook Air is the fact that the battery is not meant to be user-replaceable. A few years from now, however, that design decision may be even less relevant.
Earlier this week, Yahoo and other news sites began to report on work researchers at Stanford’s Materials Science and Engineering department reported in the journal Nature Nanotechnology in mid December. The scientists’ breakthrough discovery could yield batteries that can run for 40 or more hours and be smaller than what we use today. And these high powered wonders could be just a few years from being on the market. The implications for portable gadgets, our entertainment on the go, even electric cars, could be significant.
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Seth Gilbert, 01-17-2008
Everyone knew the numbers were going to be good; it was just a matter of how good. That and how long it would take to see them. Usually, it takes a few weeks to tabulate year end results. In that time, expectations were building. Today, NPD Group released their December and Year-End Sales results for the U.S. video game industry. The results took November’s stellar returns and raised them by one more. More records were broken.
Total U.S. hardware and software sales for 2007 rose 43% over 2006 to set a new record at $17.94b. December contributed $4.82b to that tally (a 28% annual increase).
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Seth Gilbert,
Building successful companies from the seed of a startup is usually a long process, one of those things characterized as “more of a marathon than a sprint.” Joost, and some of their Internet Protocol TV (IPTV) competitors got off to a very fast start, maybe too fast.
It was revealed Thursday that Joost’s CTO Dirk-Willem van Gulik is the leaving the startup next month to become Chief Technical Architect for the BBC. He’ll work on their sites and likely, Project Kangaroo.
The change may be nothing more than the attrition of a volatile market (tech talent is always in demand). On the other hand, taking into account the similar departure of rival Babelgum’s CTO in November, it may indicate the honeymoon is starting to end for some IPTV companies.
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Seth Gilbert,
It’s hard to think of a two hundred year old institution as forward thinking but in many ways that’s what the Library of Congress is and (set out to be). It’s not just the Library for Congress and the government; it’s the repository for copyright protections, an archive of 30 million books, hundreds of years of newspapers, enough shelf space to span 530 miles.
It’s no small job keeping 130 million items organized and accessible. It takes a staff of more than 5,000 on a budget of more than $300m to keep the gears turning. To keep it efficient, it takes all the technological resources possible. Wednesday, the library’s staff announced they’d decided those resources should include Yahoo’s online photo sharing community: Flickr. They also decided that it would be a good idea to let “the crowd” help out with the process. A library of the people, for the people and now … by the people.
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Seth Gilbert, 01-16-2008
Around the Macworld show Floor, I heard a lot of the same comments. The Mac faithful groaned consistently this morning’s keynote address was a snoozer. They weren’t impressed enough. There was too little surprise, they said, and, worse, only little changes. It’s not that something is wrong with the existing Apple product line, Apple’s Steve-worshiping fans just wanted more. Their expectations were over stoked. They wanted to be surprised, wowed and awed. The reality was short.
In a way, it’s not unlike the stock price. It tends to rise before the trade show and drop a bit after; a consequence of Apple’s finely tuned marketing machine. Sometimes, it’s almost too good for their own good.
It’s true, Apple’s product announcement this morning largely validated the rumors, or the rumors largely pegged the announcements. There were few surprises. Odds on, most expected announcements were made. Like a predictable book, Apple delivered the comfortable conclusions. That’s not to say it wasn’t satisfying, however. The new Macbook, in fact, is rather impressive. The improvements to the Apple TV’s software aren’t bad either.
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Seth Gilbert, 01-15-2008
The allure of a suspense is irresistible. 50 pages into a good book the outcome may already be foretold but if well done, you anxiously read the next two hundred to find out for sure. Macworld as a trade show has built for itself the same kind of dramatic tension. Over the years, as ringmaster, Steve jobs has crafted himself into an impressive storyteller. Legions hang in wait for his word. At Macworld, the lines were long and formed hours early for those anxious to see the live spectacle.
At 9:15 PST, following a new Mac vs. PC ad, Steve took the stage. He gave the obligatory recap of 2007, and then launched the crowd into the future.
Major news outlets were vastly in attendance. They’ll be covering the announcement all day.
Here’s the quick list: iTunes rentals (Check), New Macbook (Check), improved Apple TV (Check), software update for the iPhone (check).
And in more detail:
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Seth Gilbert,
Last year, private equity firm Terra Firma acquired struggling number four music label EMI for about $6.4b (including debt). A few days ago, an internal email from Terra Firma’s CEO Guy Hands leaked. It hinted at major house cleaning.
Ahead of Tuesday’s EMI staff meetings, early reports on the wire services and from the Wall Street Journal are citing insiders that those changes may include job cuts for as much as one third of EMI’s six thousand person global staff.
Even as sources suggest the cuts may be smaller, the number of jobs lost is expected to be substantial.
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