baltimoresun.com

August 30, 2010

Intel's Infineon acquisition a better fit than McAfee

Intel's acquisition of McAfee, the security-software company, might turn out to be a smart deal for $7.7 billion. Its acquisition of the wireless business of Infineon, a German maker of chips for smartphones and laptops, looks like a more compelling deal. Intel has to get on board the mobile-computing bandwagon, and the Infineon deal, announced this morning, will help it do it. Desktops aren't dead, but they aren't the sweet spot of the growth stats, either.

The McAfee buy could turn out well. Cyber-security is another hot piece of the info-tech business and will certainly continue to grow. And Intel intends to weave McAfee into its mobile strategy, aiming the security solutions toward mobile users. But Intel is a semiconductor hardware company at its heart. Privacy and anti-virus programs are not a central part of its mission. Intel has been buying software operations with products that it claims "take advantage of silicon." It'll be interesting to see how it bridges the hardware-software divide, which still very much exists from a marketing and manufacturing standpoint.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:11 AM | | Comments (1)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

August 17, 2010

The guy who predicted the iPhone 100 years ago

Tyler Cowen blogs on an essay written by Robert Stoss in 1910, predicting what the world would look like in 100 years.

In 1910 Stoss published an essay called "The Wireless Century," intending to predict the world of 2010. In this world everyone carries around a "wireless telegraph" which:

1. Serves as a telephone, the whole world over.

2. Either rings or vibrates in your pocket.

3. Can transmit any musical recording or performance with perfect clarity.

4. Can allow people to send each other photographs, across the entire world.

Cowen finds a total of 15 "wireless telegraph" apps that are basically what can be done with a smart phone or iPad. Read them all here.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:28 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

August 10, 2010

Did Hewlett-Packard just want a new CEO?

Today's column is about Mark Hurd, the Hewlett-Packard boss who resigned in disgrace after fiddling his expense accounts and hanging out with a former contestant from a reality dating show on NBC.

Patrick Thibodeau suggests that perhaps HP's board wanted to get rid of Hurd anyway and just used the Jodie Fisher episode as an excuse. Thibodeau:

Hurd's chief task at HP became surviving the recession and preparing the company for growth. He cut thousands of employees and worker salaries across the board. The company consolidated its own operations, taking 85 data centers down to six.

It was tough and scarring work, and the company may have wanted a new face to lead a leaner HP.

Hurd's focus on operations may have run its course

The board may have been asking itself whether Hurd was the best person to integrate HP's recent string of acquisitions -- including Palm and 3Com -- and keep ahead of the industry's fast pivot to mobile, Android and the cloud. It wants an innovator.


Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:24 AM | | Comments (4)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

May 26, 2010

Facebook's Zuckerberg: It's not about the money

So Facebook is talking about its re-re-re-revised privacy settings and the New York Times' Nick Bilton is liveblogging it. Included was this back & forth:

Question: Are these latest changes all about advertising?

Mr. Zuckerberg: There was a real pivotal moment for me when I was 22 and Yahoo and all these companies, including Viacom, were trying to buy the company, and it was a really crazy time. When we first started the company we started it in a dorm room. We reached a point where me and my friends were 22 years old and we were being offered a billion dollars for the company. It was a really pivotal point for us because it’s not about the money. It might seem weird, we’re not doing this to make more money. For all the people inside the company that could not be more true. It’s such a big disconnect that we’re doing this for the money.

Trust me, it's about the advertising. When they say it's not about the money...

Posted by Jay Hancock at 2:50 PM | | Comments (0)
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May 25, 2010

Google 'economic impact' paper aimed at antitrust cops

Google put out an unusual paper today purporting to quantify the company's economic impact, including state-by-state breakdowns. These are usually the kinds of things you see put out by nonprofits, universities, hospitals and so forth trying to justify their tax-exempt status.

For-profit companies such as Google rarely do this, but then for-profit companies are rarely squarely in the sights of antitrust authorities the way Google is. The text of Google's report says its nationwide impact is $54 billion. The subtext says "Please don't litigate too vigorously against us, Justice Department!"

Posted by Jay Hancock at 12:02 PM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

April 28, 2010

The perils of Verizon FiOS (& other broadband)

So I've had Verizon's FiOS triple play for several years and like it very much. Until now. Unlimited phone calls. Enough cable and very fast Internet, all for about $130 a month. Less hassle with modems and wireless network than with Comcast. (Verizon gives you an excellent proprietary modem/router.)

But we've been without service since Sunday, when lightning struck near the house. No TV, no phone and no Net (which helps explain the light posting). I should have known better, but until now I assumed my phone was still on Verizon's traditional copper system, in which case it would still be in service.

Verizon says it's not their fault. All internal components -- modems, routers, networks, computers -- seem to be working fine. A GFI 120v outlet powering the Verizon box next to the circuit breaker isn't delivering any amps. We've reset the GFI and powered the whole house on and off from the breaker. No change. Electricians are scarce. My wife waited until 8 last night for one to show, with no result. Now she has an appointment for 9 a.m. Thursday.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:37 AM | | Comments (6)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

April 20, 2010

Apple blows the roof off the 2nd quarter

Analysts expected Apple to earn $2.45 per share. Actual profit: $3.33 per share. The stock is up $17 in after hours, hitting $260. I am in awe and agree to retract and regret an entire 2004 column that said: "These days Apple is just another Standard & Poor's 500 member trying to hit quarterly earnings targets."

After the column ran I got royally flamed online for saying Apple was no longer the company Steve Jobs had founded. The flamers who thought I was wrong were right.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 5:26 PM | | Comments (1)
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April 13, 2010

Like it or not, Twitter ads are coming

Great analysis & explication of Twitter's ad strategy by Peter Kafka, among which is this bottom line:

Important — will definitely expand into regular timeline, at some point. IE – you will be getting ads in your stream whether you search or not. Ad-free Twitter is over.

They're calling them "promoted Tweets," not ads. Seems a bit dishonest. Will be interesting to see how well Twitter distinguishes the real Tweets from the paid ones. Google is pretty good about this.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 2:57 PM | | Comments (2)
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April 1, 2010

Google changes name to 'Topeka'

Another bold and innovative move. I wonder what other large corporation, other than one that had a poor reputation like Philip Morris (Altria), changed its name at the height of its power. Wait -- I need to go Topeka that.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:31 AM | | Comments (11)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

March 31, 2010

Hate iPhone mobility? Tether it to a desk, twisty cord

If you're feeling too much freedom with your iPhone, if you miss the days when your phone cord tied itself into knots and you could slam down a receiver, there is now a dock that lets you turn the iPhone into a traditional desk phone. Gizmodo has more. What's next? An app that lets you use your keyboard to move metal type on Smith Corona?  iphonecord.jpg
Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:06 AM | | Comments (1)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

March 30, 2010

Old lady Margaret Atwood tweets

Canadian author Margaret Atwood is on Twitter -- with 35,000 followers. She writes about it on the NY Review of Books blog.

I was told I needed “followers.” These were people who would sign on to receive my messages, or “tweets,” whatever those might turn out to be. I hummed a few bars from “Mockingbird Hill”—Tra-la-la, twittly-deedee—and sacrificed some of my hair at the crossroads, invoking Hermes the Communicator. He duly appeared in the form of media guru McLean Greaves, who loosed his carrier pigeons to four of his hundreds of Twitterbuddies; and with their aid, I soon had a few thousand people I didn’t know sending me messages like “OMG! Is it really you?” “I love it when old ladies blog,” one early follower remarked.

As so often this was shamelessly stolen from Marginal Revolution, Tyler Cowen's and Alex Tabarrok's endlessly fascinating and intelligent economics/policy/culture/everything blog.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 11:43 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

George Soros and Google CEO go way back

Thanks to Dave Troy for sending this. George Soros has just endorsed Baltimore's bid for Google gigabit fiber. Here are Soros and Google GEO Eric Schmidt talking three years ago about Soros's book on the war on terror. Yesterday I wondered how well these guys knew each other and how much juice Soros would give to Baltimore's application. They obviously know each other quite well.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:15 AM | | Comments (4)
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March 29, 2010

Soros backs Baltimore bid for Google fiber

For what it's worth, the Baltimore branch of George Soros's Open Society Institute is putting out a release expressing Soros's support for Baltimore's application for Google gigabit fiber. It's unclear how well Soros knows the Google people. And it's unclear how much his support will help Baltimore's bid. If Soros and Google's Eric Schmidt were really that tight they'd do this behind the scenes instead of having Baltimore OSI announce it. But it won't hurt. And it'll do a lot more than having your mayor jump in a lake.

Below is Soros's comment from the release, which OSI says they'll be putting out today or tomorrow. Also, Baltimore Google Czar Tom Loveland adds this via email:

Soros sent Eric Schmidt a personal letter on Friday, March 19th urging Google to select Baltimore. We got permission last week to go public and the press release below was approved by Soros’ New York office late Friday afternoon.

Soros's statement:

"Google should consider Baltimore for this trial for the same reasons that I selected Baltimore for my philanthropic investment, and as the site of the only field office of the Open Society Institute in the United States," said George Soros. "Baltimore has strong community institutions but still many people who suffer from being disconnected from important resources. The city and its residents would benefit dramatically from enhanced communications infrastructure. An investment in Baltimore is sure to yield positive returns both for Google and for the city."
Posted by Jay Hancock at 11:07 AM | | Comments (6)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

Constant TurboTax updates reflect nutty tax system

So I'm using TurboTax for the first time. (Don't laugh. I got my first cell phone last year.) It's a very good program, although it took a long time to load and install on my 500-MB RAM machine. But I'm a little disconcerted by the frequent fixes, even as tax season is upon us and April 15 approaches. There have now been a dozen updates, some with half a dozen or more fixes. The most recent update was last week. Many fixes are functional -- preventing glitches and crashes.

But many affect your tax calculation. Most of these seem to be minor, but some are not. "Fixed erroneously qualifying for the First-Time Homebuyer Credit" is one of the latter. Even so, I don't blame TurboTax very much. Every release is beta to a great extent. The government keeps changing the rules. TT actually has a deadline that must be met, as opposed to, say, USB 3.0. Some updates were unavoidable -- allowing deductible donations for Haiti. Kudos to TT for being transparent and forthright about its updates.

Instead, I present TT's endless updates as Exhibit 4,568 in the case for demonstrating the impenetrable complexity of the United States tax system. The system is a bloody nightmare. In a perfect world, you wouldn't need a 176 MB program to do your taxes.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 9:08 AM | | Comments (2)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

March 26, 2010

How to start a pirate company

It must be do-business-like-a-pirate day. This is Blackbeard's business plan, updated for the 21st century. From the UN's report on Somali pirates, here is the pirates' business blueprint. All you VCs out there, crying about the lack of deals to finance, check it out.

Among other things, there are two classes of equity shares, like at the New York Times. More-valuable Class-A shares go to pirates who board the ship. Class-B owners, who run support operations, get about $15,000 after ransom is paid. There are also outside investors. Residual profits go to Class-A shareholders after accounting for costs. HT Marginal Revolution.

A basic piracy operation requires a minimum eight to twelve militia prepared to stay at sea for extended periods of time, in the hopes of hijacking a passing vessel. Each team requires a minimum of two attack skiffs, weapons, equipment, provisions, fuel and preferably a supply boat. The costs of the operation are usually borne by investors, some of whom may also be pirates.

To be eligible for employment as a pirate, a volunteer should already possess a firearm for use in the operation. For this ‘contribution’, he receives a ‘class A’ share of any profit. Pirates who provide a skiff or a heavier firearm, like an RPG or a general purpose machine gun, may be entitled to an additional A-share. The first pirate to board a vessel may also be entitled to an extra A-share.

At least 12 other volunteers are recruited as militiamen to provide protection on land if a ship is hijacked. In addition, each member of the pirate team may bring a partner or relative to be part of this land-based force. Militiamen must possess their own weapon, and receive a ‘class B’ share — usually a fixed amount equivalent to approximately US$15,000.

If a ship is successfully hijacked and brought to anchor, the pirates and the militiamen require food, drink, fresh clothes, cell phones, air time, etc. The captured crew must also be cared for. In most cases, these services are provided by one or more suppliers, who advance the costs in anticipation of reimbursement, with a significant margin of profit, when ransom is eventually paid.

When ransom is received, fixed costs are the first to be paid out. These are typically:

• Reimbursement of supplier(s)

• Financier(s) and/or investor(s): 30% of the ransom

• Local elders: 5 to 10 %of the ransom (anchoring rights)

• Class B shares (approx. $15,000 each): militiamen, interpreters etc.

The remaining sum — the profit — is divided between class-A shareholders.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:17 AM | | Comments (4)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

March 24, 2010

What's next for venture capital?

Interesting confab at the University of Virginia starting tomorrow. It's U.Va.'s 2nd annual "venture summit," this time starring former Va. Gov. Mark Warner, Baltimore VC pioneer Chuck Newhall of New Enterprise Associates and Robert Paull of Lux Capital.

Panelists also include leading venture capitalists A.G.W. "Jack" Biddle III of Novak Biddle Venture Partners, J. Sanford "Sandy" Miller of Institutional Venture Partners and Robert Paull of Lux Capital, as well as Frank Levinson, experienced entrepreneur and founder of Small World Group. A founding partner in the U.Va. Venture Summit, Chuck Newhall of New Enterprise Associates, who is regarded as one of the visionary creators of the U.S. venture capital industry, will also participate in the summit.

UVA is upping its game as a core and disseminator of entrepreneurial knowledge. Maryland universities: pay attention.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:58 AM | | Comments (0)
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March 18, 2010

The geography of stupid PR stunts for Google fiber

McClatchy-Tribune produces at helpful map of all the cities who will not get Google gigabit fiber. Why won't they get it? They're all relying on dumb publicity stunts instead of offering an awesome, substantive, scalable, serious, awesome proposal -- like Baltimore's! OK, so we have a cute nickname -- Bmorefiber. But Baltimore also has the talent and assets to bring it off. google.jpg
Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:48 AM | | Comments (19)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

Will bridesmaid barf buckets save the economy?

Who says U.S. entrepreneurs have lost their innovative edge? Atlantic Monthly blogger Megan McArdle is getting married. One of her bridesmaids got a Gmail ad for Bachelorette Barf Buckets, a heartwarming, personalized gift bucket full of bachelorette stuff. The site, whose URL you can see on Megan's blog, may or may not be safe for work.

On second thought, hold the reference to U.S. entrepreneurs. The buckets and everything in them look like they're made in China.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 6:10 AM | | Comments (0)
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March 12, 2010

What should go on Google czar's to-do list?

Good move by city to make Mind Over Machines' Tom Loveland the volunteer "Google czar" charged with pulling together a proposal to bring Google's gigabit fiber to Baltimore. He'll have a full two weeks; the proposal is due March 26.

What ought to be on Loveland's list? As he notes in Gus Sentementes' story, gimmicks like Topeka pretending to switch its name to Google, Kansas, (or the mayor of Duluth jumping into Lake Superior) aren't going to win the project. For Baltimore, getting Under Armour's backing is good. But Loveland needs to get many more people invovled for a killer proposal.

Some thoughts:

-- Get Hopkins and University of Maryland medical center to submit detailed descriptions of how gigabit fiber can transform their care with easier sharing of 3D radiology imaging, long-distance diagnosis, leaps in electronic medical records etc.
-- Talk to Erickson Retirement Communities, which is a leader in electronic medical records and might have some ideas.
-- Get George Soros and his Baltimore foundation involved. There was some buzz about this a couple weeks ago but it seems to have died down.
-- By all means talk to tech transfer offices at local universities, especially to Aris Melissaratos at Hopkins.
-- The Johns Hopkins Carey Business School is growing rapidly under Dean Yash Gupta -- it's basically an educational startup, with enormous resources. Have Carey propose to serve as a permanent, local brain trust for the Google project, with profs and students figuring out how to wring the most out of the project as it develops.
-- You're not going to get Google's attention without showing how the project will help challenged schools and neighborhoods. Baltimore schools chief Andres Alonso is on board, but he needs to show Google, not just tell it, how gigabit fiber will make a difference.
-- Other ideas?

UPDATE: Loveland and the other Bmorefiber brains have already thought of all this stuff, of course. Email from Loveland:

Hi Jay: ;

Thanks for the ideas! Happy to report that most of your list is already in the can in a deep way, plus much more. Only thing we hadn’t thought of is Erickson; not sure how speed helps EMR. But will include him. And the brain trust idea is a good extension of what we’re already working on.

If you or others come up with more ideas, please forward!



Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:27 AM | | Comments (3)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

March 9, 2010

AT&T's less-than-fabulous coverage / reception

So I'm interviewing Dr. Robert Wachter last week for this column on the lack of oversight in the medical system for invasive cardiology procedures. He's driving is car in what ought to be the most-wired city in the world -- metro San Francisco. He's on a main artery -- I-80 as it crosses the Oakland Bay Bridge. He's speaking to me on his iPhone. And the AT&T reception is God-awful. The call gets dropped 5 times in the course of a 20-minute interview.

"But I'm addicted to my iPhone," Wachter says, so he puts up with it. Similar tales are told in New York and other places.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:14 AM | | Comments (3)
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March 4, 2010

Awesomest iPhone app: Bait shop locator

 Bait.jpg

You thought Shazam was the coolest iPhone app ever in history?

It's pretty neat, but it doesn't come close to Derek Trauger's Bait Shops locator, "an easy to use interface that places an ever growing database of over 10,000 shops at your fingertips."

Next time you need minnows or crawdads, punch in your location. Bait Shops scores your supply like Roland Martin reeling in a smallmouth.

Trauger also has a boat-ramp locator app.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 6:00 AM | | Comments (1)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

February 24, 2010

West Hartford and other towns in the Google chase

Thanks to Mind Over Machines' Tom Loveland's pointer to this Hartford Courant story on one of the many towns lining up for a shot at Google's gigabit broadband.

WEST HARTFORD — - Just like someone buying a lottery ticket, the town is taking a chance on winning a fortune — an opportunity to partner with Google and gain a fiber-optic network with Internet speed and capacity up to 100 times faster than most people use today.

"We're applying and we think we have a leg up," West Hartford Finance Director Chris Johnson said Wednesday. "We have a glass [fiber-optic] network that the town bought a few years ago. We're connecting all town buildings to it, so we already have a good chunk of the network, which can be extended."

Google set March 26 as the filing deadline. It's too early to tell how many communities will apply.

But news stories published after the Google announcement indicate there are likely to be dozens. So far, the list of probable applicants includes Washington, D.C.; Pittsburgh; Seattle; Duluth, Minn.; Madison, Wis.; Greensboro, N.C; Columbia, Mo.; and Rochester, N.Y.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 11:27 AM | | Comments (0)
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What would Google spend on Baltimore broadband?

Today's column is about the grassroots campaign, quickly spreading to political and commercial institutions, to persuade Google to build one of its superfast broadband networks in Baltimore. In talking about this yesterday with MP3Car's Rob Wray, Roundhouse Technologies' David Troy and others, the hazy topic of how much Google would spend came up.

Google says it wants to build gigabit networks in a small number of test markets in the United States. "We plan to offer service to at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people." Using the estimated figure that Verizon is spending $10,000 per household to connect its FiOS broadband to each subscriber, some are estimating that Google could spend $1 billion in each of several cities. ($10,000 x 100,000 households.) This sounds like way too much to me.

A billion dollars is a ton of money for a project that may generate only nominal revenue, even for a moneybags like Google. Note that Google is saying it will "offer" service to 50,000 to 500,000 people. That's not the same as connecting that many households. Verizon may spend $10,000 per household that it signs up for FiOS, but it spends far less -- ~$2,000 -- for each home "passed," that is, each house to which it can offer service. Not every house with broadband fiber at the street curb subscribes.

Also, Google says it will offer the service to from 50,000 to 500,000 "people." There are about 2.5 people per household in this country. So if Google means "people" literally, we're talking 20,000 to 200,000 households for all the test markets. Of course the company will hook up businesses, too, for which the person-per-connection ratio would be even higher. At some businesses you can get 1,000 "people" with essentially one connection.

This is why I used a conservative, "tens of millions" figure in the column for a potential pricetag for Google Baltimore broadband. (Which is still lots of dough.) For more on the bmorefiber movement, see the Web site, the BaltTech blog, the Daily Record blog and the Twitter stuff. Oh and the Facebook page.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 7:42 AM | | Comments (4)
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February 10, 2010

Will Google Buzz kill Facebook?

Those who say no point to Facebook's dominant status in social networking and the tendency for dominant networks to stay that way. Did Microsoft's search functions hurt Google? Did Barnes & Noble's online sales hurt Amazon? Will H&R Block's big ad campaign for its tax software hurt TurboTax?

Avis tries harder, but on the Net, when network effects rule, there's not as much upside in being No. 2. There is plenty of money to be made in "the long tail" of product distribution on the Web, but not so much in networks, where the dynamics of increasing rather than diminishing returns often leave only crumbs for the runners-up.

But, you say, Google already has a network, perhaps the awesomest ever. It's a good point. But Buzz still figures to be a long-shot to take much social networking juice from Facebook. And just to make sure, PC World's David Coursey has a great idea for Facebook:

To protect itself from Google, Facebook content must never appear in any form as part of any Google product. Not ever, and Facebook should make the announcement today. (You can see our visual tour of Google Buzz here).

Here's why: If Google Buzz is ever connected to Facebook, it will be the beginning of the end for today's #1 social network.

For Buzz to succeed, it needs Facebook content. By denying it, Facebook can help secure its future and help wall off Google.


UPDATE: Good point from David Carr @carr2n via Twitter:

in re, Goog me-too-ism, tweeters point out G search and email, both amazing, were started in established categories. and Wave is own thing.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:49 AM | | Comments (7)
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November 1, 2009

Google kills my "lucky" button

People have been speculating for a while that Google would get rid of the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on its main search interface. About 1 percent of Google searches reportedly employ the button, which takes you straight to the top search result and which helped Google establish its reputation as a laser-accurate information retriever in the late 1990s. But when Web users go directly to the page they want, Google misses a chance to display the ads that go with its search results.

Now the company seems to be at least experimenting with an even more stripped-down page than the famously minimal Google marquee. It lacks any buttons. My Google page today says "Press Enter to Search" under the search field, and that's it. Is this what everybody is seeing today? Is anybody still seeing "I'm Feeling Lucky"?

UPDATE: At least some foreign language Google versions still have the "lucky" option.
Including the Pig Latin UI. "I'mway Eelingfay Uckylay"

Posted by Jay Hancock at 3:00 PM | | Comments (4)
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October 6, 2009

Nobel panel to labs: More ideas like these, please

In recent years the physics Nobel has more or less oscillated between recipients who did basic research that hasn't yet translated into consumer technology and and those who set the stage for applications and products. Last year's prize went for work on "broken symmetry" in subatomic physics. The 2007 prize went for the discovery that underlies how computer hard drives work. The year before that it went to people who worked on cosmic radiation -- and so forth.

This year technology grabbed back the trophy. It was shared by researchers who discovered the process that underlies today's digital cameras and who laid the ground for transmission of data through glass fibers. (What took the committee so long to annoint Charles Kao?)

At a time of faltering innovation and a terrible economy, we need more Charles Kaos, Willard Boyles and George Smiths, without whom today's economy might look even worse.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:21 AM | | Comments (0)
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September 25, 2009

Twitter investors include T. Rowe Price

From Bloomberg:

Twitter Inc., the social-networking site used by everyone from Oprah Winfrey to British royalty, received a “significant” round of venture capital financing from firms including T. Rowe Price Group Inc.

Other investors include Insight Venture Partners, Institutional Venture Partners, Spark Capital and Benchmark Capital, Twitter said today on its blog. Twitter’s previous round of funding was $35 million in February, bringing its total at the time to more than $50 million. The company has yet to report any significant revenue.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 3:53 PM | | Comments (0)
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July 23, 2009

Zappos showed shoes can sell online

During the dot-com bubble of 1999, I would have put a tiny, online seller of shoes into the same category with Pets.com, Babytoys.com (or whatever) and all the other soon-to-be dead online merchants. I would have been wrong.

Shoes are hard to fit and hard to buy over the Web. They seemed to be one of those "high-touch" products that you have to see in person to buy. The solution that Zappos hit upon -- free shipping for both orders and returns -- figured to wipe out profits. It didn't. Now Amazon is buying Zappos for $800 million.

Helping Zappos (and Amazon), of course, is the ability to avoid charging most customers for state sale taxes. This gives it an unfair advantage over bricks/mortar stores that fuel local economies. I wonder how competitive Zappos would be if it had to operate under the same rules as Macy's or Payless Shoe Source.


Posted by Jay Hancock at 3:16 PM | | Comments (3)
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Did I slight integrated circuit co-inventor Kilby?

A reader writes:

In your column in the Wednesday, 22 July issue of 'The Baltimore Sun', you commented, "...Robert Noyce launched the cyber age by inventing the silicon-based integrated circuit...".

You are correct that Mr. Noyce invented the silicon-based integrated circuit (IC). However it should be noted that Mr. Jack Kilby was the first to demonstrate an operational IC on 12 September 1958. Mr. Noyce independently developed his IC about 6 months later.

Mr. Kilby and Mr. Noyce are considered co-inventors of the IC.

As an electrical engineer and former Texas Instruments employee, I could not stand by and let Mr. Noyce get an unfair amount of credit for the invention of the IC.

My reply:

Thanks for the note and sticking up for TI. Didn’t mean to slight Jack Kilby, but I was trying in an offhand way to observe the Noyce’s 50th anniversary – as you know Kilby’s anniversary was last year. Since silicon and not germanium became the standard, it seemed reasonable to mention Noyce. You didn’t – but could have – also argued against my characterization of the IC as the beginning of the cyber age. What about transistors? What about ENIAC etc. But that’s another conversation!
Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:03 AM | | Comments (0)
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July 14, 2009

This post not manufactured with MS Word

Attention: This post was not made using MS Word's "New Blog Post" feature. Has any post on any subject for any blog ever used this useless appendage that slows down Word even more? Coming next from Word: "New Tweet" ? "New Text Msg" ? The one I want: "New Great American Novel"

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:23 AM | | Comments (0)
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July 8, 2009

Google docs: Still in beta

I'm sorry. Gmail may be out of beta. Google Docs most definitely is not. That is all.

Posted by Jay Hancock at 8:33 AM | | Comments (0)
Categories: Technology & Innovation
        

June 1, 2009

New tech blog by Gus Sentementes

Check out The Sun's new tech blog, BaltTech, authored by Gus Sentementes.

Somewhere out there, maybe here in Maryland, the next Google could be being born right now. Maybe it'll be a white-hot startup. Or maybe it'll branch out of groundbreaking work done by students and professors at one of Maryland's colleges and universities. Either way, I want to be there to Tweet it, blog it, report it, photograph it, and videotape it. (Did i just say videotape?)
Posted by Jay Hancock at 10:00 AM | | Comments (0)
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About Jay Hancock
Jay Hancock has been a financial columnist for The Baltimore Sun since 2001. He has also been The Baltimore Sun's diplomatic correspondent in Washington and its chief economics writer. Before moving to Baltimore in 1994 he worked for The Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk and The Daily Press of Newport News.

His columns appear Tuesdays and Sundays.
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