Google lost out to a consortium on its bid to acquire an estimated 6,000 patents from Nortel, a bankrupt telecom-equipment manufacturer. Google bid $900 million for the patents however the consortium which included big companies such as Apple and Research In Motion made a $4.5 billion cash bid making their offer five times as much as that of Google. A lot of big companies became interested in acquiring the patents after they learned that it was up for sale. These patents include technologies related to 4G wireless systems, semiconductors and networking. Most of the patents relate to social networking, telecommunications and Internet search making it very attractive to own. A representative from Nortel said that the patents cost them $40 billion in investments in a span of 15 years. This was achieved through the company's own development as well as through acquisitions. Google was the first company to signify its interest in getting the patents since it planned to use it in its expansion of additional services. Kent Walker, the senior VP of Google had this to say regarding the outcome "This outcome is disappointing for anyone who believes that open innovation benefits users and promotes creativity and competition.” |
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Google Fails To Acquire Nortel Patents
Facebook To Announce “Awesome” Product Next Week
Facebook, the current leading social network, has a surprise in store for everyone which will be revealed next week. CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that they will "launch something awesome" next week. Invitations have already been sent out through Facebook for an event that will happen at 10 AM this coming Wednesday, July 6. Nothing has leaked yet as to what the company will announce next week although it seems like a respond to the recent launch of Google's Google+ social network. Most experts believe that Facebook might announce some of its native mobile apps, specifically for the iPad which until now still does not have an app. The rumored Facebook iPad app will rely heavily on HTML 5 and will be web based. There's also some rumors circulating that Facebook might also be revealing it new photo sharing service for the iPhone. The company is working hard right now to introduce exciting new features as it expects to get serious competition from Google's own social network, Google+. The fact that Google had to shut down invites to their new service is proof that a lot of people are interested in joining it. Whatever the announcement next week will be, you can be sure that a lot of people will be interested in hearing about it. |
Saturday, July 2, 2011
Google Swiffy Converts Flash Into HTML5
Google Labs launches a new tool called Swiffy that can convert Flash files into HTML5 so that it could be viewed on devices that are not capable of Flash. SWF files are run through the converter that splits it into a JSON file. Then it renders the file with HTML, Scalable Vector Graphics, and Cascading Style Sheets. The converted files are slightly larger than the original Flash file but it renders smoothly in HTML5.
Adobe has a similar tool called Wallaby, which it launched earlier this year. It converts the FLA-format files into JavaScript, HTML5 and CSS. The tool was designed for developers to port ads for iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch, and other devices that didn't have Flash capabilities.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs said that his company has no intentions of incorporating Flash into any of its devices that run on iOS. He added that Flash was created during the PC era. At today's mobile era, new open standards are created, such as HTML5.
Adobe responded to apple's challenge by creating tools for HTML5. It has already released a HTML5 update to the Dreamweaver software and introduced CSS Regions to its WebKit browser engine program. It would also launch Edge, a tool that allows designers to create animated web page elements with standard web technologies.
Google Unveils Google+ Social Network
Google announced its new Google+ social network, which is currently by invite only. Reports from those who got into the field test say that it's a social network for geeks. It has several options that let the user share, protect, hide and discover photos, videos, friends, posts, and more.
It has several features that could confuse those who are used to Facebook's minimalist approach. Its Circles feature lets the user add friends. The Hangout is a group video chat feature. Google+ lets its users upload unlimited amount of video and photos through its Google+ Mobile.
Sadly, Google's field test of its Google+ network suffered from overcapacity that is reported to be a regular occurrence during this part of its testing. There were also complaints of poor design and alpha glitches.
If you're lucky enough to get an invite for Google+, you'll notice a +Mark on the black bar on top of your screen when you're in a Google web site. When you click it, you'll enter Google+. You'll find four icons on top of the screen, which as Home, Photos, Profile and Circles.
Google Asks What Do You Love?
Google unveiled its WDYL.com web site, which displays results of your search via 20 different Google products on a single page. When you go to WDYL.com, you'll be greeted by a simple page that asks the user "what do you love?" and a search bar below.
Once the user input a search request, the site will display results through 20 widgets that feature Google's various searches, which include blogs, news, YouTube, and Picasa photos. You could scroll through all the widgets in the page.
Google silently rolled out this new web site without any fanfare, intro or marketing strategies. Apparently it was supposed to be launch a few days ago but Google had to fix some engineering problems before it was ready for the big unveiling.
It is interesting to see the results but it looks like WDYL.com is more of a promotional tool for Google's products such as Chrome, Gmail, Calendar, and others that don't show any results regarding the search query. There's a button at the bottom of each widget that would take the user to the Google product's web site.
Facebook Faces Antitrust Complaint
Consumer Watchdog objects the new terms for using the Facebook credits that will take effect on Friday. It says that the new terms will enable Facebook to extend its monopoly over the virtual goods market in social games within the site.
The new terms prohibit game developers from charging lower prices for their games on other social networks. The consumer group said that Facebook wants to dictate prices. It undermines competition and forces the consumers to pay higher prices.
In the past, Consumer Watchdog is a Google critic. It once labeled video ads of former CEO Eric Schmidt as creepy. It looks like the group is expanding its range has taken Facebook as its next target. The group also included Zynga in its complaint. It said that the social gaming company conspired with Facebook through an agreement made last May 2010. Although the details of the deal are secret, it is rumored to include concessions on Facebook's part regarding Facebook Credits.Google+ To Compete With Facebook
Google is taking another shot at social networking with its limited release of Google+. This new service provides you with an interesting way of connecting with your friends and acquaintances. What the company did is take the best features of Facebook and Twitter and add their own ideas in creating Google+.
The service is available for selected people only since it is still in its beta phase. If you want to try it out you have to ask someone who has access to the service so that you could create your account. I was lucky enough to get an invite and tried it out for a spin.
Once I was able to access my Google+ account I immediately noticed that it is different from Google Buzz or Google Wave. What makes this social network unique is that you will be able to immediately categorize your contacts into different Circles. Whatever content you want to share can be limited to specific Circles.
One feature that is useful is the Hangout feature. You can start a Hangout and can invite up to ten people to video chat with. Make sure to have your webcam ready if you want to use this feature.
Although there are still some bugs in Google+ it already looks like it will be a popular service.
Paypal Hits 100 Million And Predicts The End Of Wallets By 2015
Who would have thought that 100 million registered users would signal the end of the wallet—the humble, easy to carry, wallet. Well, Paypal president, Scott Thompson, announced recently that his company now has over 100 million active users. This milestone led him to announce in the same breath, that by 2015, we will all be using some form of digital currency. Yes, by 2015, all our wallets will be in the Smithsonian.
It is indeed fact, that today more and more people use the internet and other digital platforms to make purchases. But it is also true that even today, some people prefer to go into a bank and deal directly with a teller—a live person. And we mustn't forget that as we march towards this bold digital future, security seems to be lagging woefully behind. In the last six months, online companies have had no fewer than 30 security breaches with data, and no fewer than 250 million people affected. That's more people who've had their data compromised than Paypal glorious milestone of 100 million active users.
Using digital platforms to effect purchases requires a "digital connection" and I doubt that we'll all be connected by 2015. When people talk about the digital revolution, they tend to forget the millions of people who have yet to graduate to broadband, or even worse, make their first phone call. Even in the wealthy western societies, having a cell phone doesn't necessarily equate to having spending power. Mr Thompson, perhaps meant to say: "By 2015, no-one who works at Paypal will have need for a wallet". Had he said that, I would have wholeheartedly agreed.
The wallet is probably not here to stay, but I guarantee Mr Thompson and Paypal that it will be around long after 2015.
See analysis of the 100 million milestone in the video below.
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