GARANSI RESMI APPLE 1 TAHUN
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Yahoo Search Renovation makes results more useful Features
Yahoo has begun rolling out significant changes to the way it presents Internet search results, with the goal of making found items and information more immediately useful to people___including calling out entertainment & news content—and reviving the company’s slumping revenues and share of the overall search market.
“Our goal is to understand what people care about and to make it fun for them to explore the most personally relevant, interesting, and informative content so that they can get things done faster and stay in the know,” said Yahoo senior VP for search and marketplaces Shashi Seth, in a statement. “Yahoo’s new immersive Search is a cornerstone of the overall Yahoo experience.”
The new search results aim to get search users what they want in immediately useful ways: searching for entertainment and celebrities will pull up the “most important details” like images, articles, tweets, videos, event listings, and ratings right on the primary search results page. The new search results also show slideshows right above standard search results showing trending topics from Yahoo.com sources and elsewhere so users can stay in the loop.
Search results will also incorporate “quick apps” from Yahoo search: the first is a new Web app for Netflix that enables Netflix subscribers to add DVDs to their queues directly from the Yahoo search results page. Also, a new Yahoo Image Search enables users to view slideshows culled from Flickr and Yahoo’s other content sites, as well as the ability for people to view photos from friends’ public Facebook albums—assuming they’ve latched their Facebook accounts to their Yahoo accounts.
The makeover doesn’t apply just to the Yahoo Webs site: Yahoo’s iPhone- and Android-using customers are also getting “faster, more sophisticated” search results built around HTML5 technology, making rich content on finance, entertainment, and local topics more accessible.
The new tools are rolling out now on Yahoo’s U.S. based Web site, with a rollout to global markets scheduled to get underway in 2011.
The search changes represent Yahoo’s latest effort to distinguish its search offerings from those of Google and Microsoft—a task that’s particularly important now that Yahoo is wrapping up the process of transferring the back-end of its search operations over to Microsoft’s Bing. Although Yahoo controls some of the Internet’s most popular sites—like Flickr—both Yahoo’s share of the Internet search market and the advertising revenue derives from searches have been in steady decline, causing some industry watchers to question whether CEO Carol Bartz’s turnaround plan for the company can succeed.
Windows 7 Phone: Great software
Next week, Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 products officially launch, and we’ll know whether they have another Zune or another Xbox on their hands. Microsoft’s luck with consumer products range from the first Zune, which was a well-funded failure, to the Xbox, which was surprisingly successful, and we could toss in Windows Vista and Windows 7 as additional bad-to-good examples. I’ve looked at Windows Phone 7 now at length, and I think it could be a player, if it can just get over its name. Let’s explore that.
Zune
I was very excited about Microsoft’s first Zune, until I saw it. Microsoft had done a lot of things that made music more social that limited the related cost, and made it easier to discover, which Apple had not. The retailers hated Apple because the firm was not only too controlling, but had opened stores that competed with them and got favorable treatment with regard to inventory. Microsoft had a rich accessory line, and for once, a marketing budget.
However, when I saw the device, I was dumbfounded, because it looked like a square turd to me (it was even brown). I asked, hoping to be right, whether it was a hardware mule, and the cool-looking product was still under development. I was horrified to find out they actually planned to try to sell the brown turd, and was told that brown was the new black (how wrong they were).
I must have appeared to be in shock, because the Microsoft executive laughed and said, “You know, we are Microsoft, and it does take us three times to get something right.” His departure from Microsoft was not voluntary as you can imagine.
Current-generation Zunes are vastly more attractive, but they are no real competition for Apple, and likely just are a hedge for Apple against successful monopoly problems.
Xbox
Xbox was more of a different beast, driven by people who loved gaming. It came to market more loaded, with vastly better marketing. While initially the design was more driven by cost considerations than beauty, that wasn’t unusual for that market. And Apple wasn’t in it.
Here, the offering was much more complete, and the new Xbox is arguably the best-looking gaming system on the planet. Granted, it helped a lot that Sony horribly messed up the PS3 by massively overshooting cost limits and darned near putting itself under. At one point the PS3 was both overpriced, and selling at an estimated $600+ loss per system.
Still, Microsoft got the online side of its product fixed more quickly, and as Sony made its products less attractive to conserve cost, Microsoft made its more attractive, creating a disparity that seems to be favoring Xbox sales now over both PlayStation and Nintendo. While we could argue whether Microsoft is now the leader in this market, there is no doubt the company is a serious player, and that is what it needs to be in the smartphone segment
Windows 7 Phone
Coming into the launch, Microsoft has a number of potential advantages. It has a rumored marketing launch budget that exceeds Apple’s, its user interface is more graphics rich and new than either the iPhone’s or Android’s native interface and it is more consistent across different hardware than Android. The phones will be on more carriers than just AT&T, and they will come in a variety of designs, not just one. However, they need to provide one more thing – and that is status. However, they only need to provide more than the Android platform provided initially, not the iPhone, and that may be doable.
Google does virtually no marketing or real demand generation for its products and relies entirely on the carriers or device manufactures for that, and these folks often have little in the way of budget. Google is under increasing pressure to bring costs in line with revenues, making it very difficult for it to fund a marketing campaign at Microsoft’s or Apple’s level.
Finally, when it comes to product placement in TV and movies , Microsoft has risen to challenge Apple’s efforts in this area. It is hard to find a show on TV that doesn’t have the Windows logo on most, if not all of the PC hardwareon screen. This would have an even bigger impact with smartphones and does with iPhones common in media today.
Could it come down to name?
I actually think Microsoft could surprise Google, and maybe even scare Apple this time, except for one nagging doubt. The name “Windows Phone 7” just doesn’t feel cool to me. I can see people say with pride they own aniPhone, or even an Android phone, but, “Hey, check out my Windows Phone 7 phone!” just sounds lame.
I’ve tried “WP7 phone,” which is better, but I haven’t seen the platform positioned that way. And while you could drop back to the phone name itself, “Check out my HTC Kraken,” it is Microsoft that has the marketing budget, not HTC. As a result, strangely enough, I think the success of this phone will be directly related to whether Microsoft can get around the name of its platform, and make the devices sound cool so buyers can tell others, with pride, about their purchase.
So going back to the Xbox, which wasn’t called “Windows XP Embedded with Gaming,” Microsoft’s success will be directly related to how people talk about the Windows Phone 7 products they buy, and how little they say the words “Windows Phone 7.” Let’s just say I don’t envy the person who owns Windows Phone 7 marketing. We’ll revisit this next week after the launch.
I was very excited about Microsoft’s first Zune, until I saw it. Microsoft had done a lot of things that made music more social that limited the related cost, and made it easier to discover, which Apple had not. The retailers hated Apple because the firm was not only too controlling, but had opened stores that competed with them and got favorable treatment with regard to inventory. Microsoft had a rich accessory line, and for once, a marketing budget.
However, when I saw the device, I was dumbfounded, because it looked like a square turd to me (it was even brown). I asked, hoping to be right, whether it was a hardware mule, and the cool-looking product was still under development. I was horrified to find out they actually planned to try to sell the brown turd, and was told that brown was the new black (how wrong they were).
I must have appeared to be in shock, because the Microsoft executive laughed and said, “You know, we are Microsoft, and it does take us three times to get something right.” His departure from Microsoft was not voluntary as you can imagine.
Current-generation Zunes are vastly more attractive, but they are no real competition for Apple, and likely just are a hedge for Apple against successful monopoly problems.
Xbox
Xbox was more of a different beast, driven by people who loved gaming. It came to market more loaded, with vastly better marketing. While initially the design was more driven by cost considerations than beauty, that wasn’t unusual for that market. And Apple wasn’t in it.
Here, the offering was much more complete, and the new Xbox is arguably the best-looking gaming system on the planet. Granted, it helped a lot that Sony horribly messed up the PS3 by massively overshooting cost limits and darned near putting itself under. At one point the PS3 was both overpriced, and selling at an estimated $600+ loss per system.
Still, Microsoft got the online side of its product fixed more quickly, and as Sony made its products less attractive to conserve cost, Microsoft made its more attractive, creating a disparity that seems to be favoring Xbox sales now over both PlayStation and Nintendo. While we could argue whether Microsoft is now the leader in this market, there is no doubt the company is a serious player, and that is what it needs to be in the smartphone segment
Windows 7 Phone
Coming into the launch, Microsoft has a number of potential advantages. It has a rumored marketing launch budget that exceeds Apple’s, its user interface is more graphics rich and new than either the iPhone’s or Android’s native interface and it is more consistent across different hardware than Android. The phones will be on more carriers than just AT&T, and they will come in a variety of designs, not just one. However, they need to provide one more thing – and that is status. However, they only need to provide more than the Android platform provided initially, not the iPhone, and that may be doable.
Google does virtually no marketing or real demand generation for its products and relies entirely on the carriers or device manufactures for that, and these folks often have little in the way of budget. Google is under increasing pressure to bring costs in line with revenues, making it very difficult for it to fund a marketing campaign at Microsoft’s or Apple’s level.
Finally, when it comes to product placement in TV and movies , Microsoft has risen to challenge Apple’s efforts in this area. It is hard to find a show on TV that doesn’t have the Windows logo on most, if not all of the PC hardwareon screen. This would have an even bigger impact with smartphones and does with iPhones common in media today.
Could it come down to name?
I actually think Microsoft could surprise Google, and maybe even scare Apple this time, except for one nagging doubt. The name “Windows Phone 7” just doesn’t feel cool to me. I can see people say with pride they own aniPhone, or even an Android phone, but, “Hey, check out my Windows Phone 7 phone!” just sounds lame.
I’ve tried “WP7 phone,” which is better, but I haven’t seen the platform positioned that way. And while you could drop back to the phone name itself, “Check out my HTC Kraken,” it is Microsoft that has the marketing budget, not HTC. As a result, strangely enough, I think the success of this phone will be directly related to whether Microsoft can get around the name of its platform, and make the devices sound cool so buyers can tell others, with pride, about their purchase.
So going back to the Xbox, which wasn’t called “Windows XP Embedded with Gaming,” Microsoft’s success will be directly related to how people talk about the Windows Phone 7 products they buy, and how little they say the words “Windows Phone 7.” Let’s just say I don’t envy the person who owns Windows Phone 7 marketing. We’ll revisit this next week after the launch.
Sprint and T-Mobile launch LG Optimus Android Based Smart phones
Mobile operators Sprint Telecom and T-Mobile are both launching versions of the LG Optimus Android OS Based smartphones, hoping to attract new smartphone customers by lowering one of the primary barriers to entry: pricing. Rather than including every possible bell and whistle in the device, the LG Optimus is designed to be an inexpensive starter smartphone for folks upgrading from less expensive feature phone!!!but still packing the power and flexibility of Android.
First up, T-Mobile’s version will be called the Optimus T: its features a 3.2-inch capacitive touchscreen display, 3.2 megapixel camera with video capture capability, microSD expandable storage (ships with a 2 GB card with support for cards up to 32 GB), and runs Android 2.2 (“Froyo”). T-Mobile isn’t saying exactly when the Optimus T will be on sale or how much it will cost, but they do plan to have it available in black and burgundy for the “holiday season,” and industry watchers are betting on seeing the unit on sale by the end of October.
Motorola Sues Apple over Eighteen patents
Technology giant Motorola has filed suit against Apple, claiming the company’s iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, and particular Macintosh computers breaks a total of 18 Motorola patents. The complaints center on technology related to GPRS and Wi-Fi technology, along with WCDMA (3G) wireless communication and wireless antenna design; other alleged infringements concern Apple’s MobileMe cloud-based subscription service and Apple’s App Store.
“Motorola has innovated and patented throughout every cycle of the telecommunications industry evolution, from Motorola’s invention of the cell phone to its development of premier smartphone products, said Motorola Mobility corporate VP Kirk Dailey, in a statement. “After Apple’s late entry into the telecommunications market, we engaged in lengthy negotiations, but Apple has refused to take a license. We had no choice but to file these complaints to halt Apple’s continued infringement.”
The complaints relate to what Motorola characterizes as “early state innovations” that it claims Apple uses in several of its products, including technology related to wireless email, proximity sensing, device synchronization, software application management, and location-based services.
In addition to patent infringement claims, Motorola has also filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission. Motorola is seeking unspecified damages and wants a ban on Apple importing or selling the allegedly-infringing products in the U.S. market. The ITC complaint and portions of the patent infringement complaints was filed by Motorola Mobility—Motorola’s phone-making unit—before a District Court in Chicago. The remaining patent infringement complaints were filed in Chicago and Miami.
Motorola’s suit comes just after the company found itself the target of a patent infringement suit from Microsoft over its Android-based smartphones.
“Motorola has innovated and patented throughout every cycle of the telecommunications industry evolution, from Motorola’s invention of the cell phone to its development of premier smartphone products, said Motorola Mobility corporate VP Kirk Dailey, in a statement. “After Apple’s late entry into the telecommunications market, we engaged in lengthy negotiations, but Apple has refused to take a license. We had no choice but to file these complaints to halt Apple’s continued infringement.”
The complaints relate to what Motorola characterizes as “early state innovations” that it claims Apple uses in several of its products, including technology related to wireless email, proximity sensing, device synchronization, software application management, and location-based services.
In addition to patent infringement claims, Motorola has also filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission. Motorola is seeking unspecified damages and wants a ban on Apple importing or selling the allegedly-infringing products in the U.S. market. The ITC complaint and portions of the patent infringement complaints was filed by Motorola Mobility—Motorola’s phone-making unit—before a District Court in Chicago. The remaining patent infringement complaints were filed in Chicago and Miami.
Motorola’s suit comes just after the company found itself the target of a patent infringement suit from Microsoft over its Android-based smartphones.
Verizon and Motorola Jointly Launched Droid Pro and Citrus
The phones cover vastly different markets, with the Droid Pro going after business users and the Citrus coming in as an entry-level Android operating system based smartphone.
Both phones were announced last night by Motorola co-CEO Sanjay Jha. Motorola claims the Droid Pro is the first Android smartphone to specifically target business users.
The Droid Pro departs from the design of the first Droid and takes on the look and feel of a Blackberry. For Blackberry fans looking for an Android option this is welcome news.
The Droid Pro comes with a fully functional keyboard below its 3.1-inch screen, has a 5-mexapixel camera, global roaming support, 512MB of memory and 2GB of storage (expandable by SD memory card) and a 1 Ghz processor running on Android 2.2. This phone means serious businesses.
In terms of security features, Droid Pro provides VPN and the ability to remote wipe the device.
Remote wipe isn’t completely new to the Android platform, however, no clear standards have been put in place for what makes an Android phone enterprise ready.
Blackberry may have a cushy 31% of the smartphone market, but the fact is that Android is becoming an increasingly popular platform. Blackberry power users looking for the same features on an Android phone may have just found their match.
Looking at Citrus, it comes with a touch screen keyboard and will only be running Android 2.1. Engadget reports is has a 524MHz MSM7525 processor and 3-inch touchscreen. We can only wonder why Motorola chose to put out such a bare bones smartphone.
Citrus does has one thing going for it. It is a relatively “green” phone. It’s made from 25 percent post-consumer recycled plastic, is certified CarbonFree and is PVC and BFR free.
Motorola says the Droid Pro will be available the first week of November, and the Citrus will be released by the end of 2010.
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Facebook added new options in privacy dashboard, downloadable data, group sharing
Facebook held an invite_only press conference at the company’s headquarters in Palo Alto, California on Wednesday. Since news of the event leaked, speculation and rumors about what the conference would reveal have been flooding the Internet. Many thought that Mark Zuckerberg would announce the integration of Skype and Facebook, or plans for a Facebook phone, but neither hit the mark. Instead, Zuckerberg introduced three new features that aim to further personalize Facebook and build the site’s functions around the way social networkswork in real life. It’s unclear when these new features will show up on the site, but we’ve got the inside scoop about what will change.
Download Your Information
The first announcement of the event was a feature that will let users download all of their Facebook data (photos, videos, messages, etc.) into a single zip file that will be sent through e-mail. How useful this feature will be is questionable, but it could help users who don’t keep track of all their own photos and videos on their own desktops.
New Dashboard
Right now on Facebook, there are two different screens to manage your applications, and setting privacy and permission settings for each one is confusing. A new dashboard on the left side of the screen will make application settings more accessible, and allow users to easily see what information each application is using.
Groups
The biggest announcement of the day was a new groups feature, designed to eliminate what Zuckerberg sees as the site’s biggest social problem: People don’t want to share everything with everyone on their friends list. In real life, people you want to communicate with are separated into natural groups: old friends, new friends, family, colleagues, etc. With the current Facebook, users can either choose to share a status update or photos with everyone they are connected with, or share with individuals via chat and messages.
Right now on Facebook, there are two different screens to manage your applications, and setting privacy and permission settings for each one is confusing. A new dashboard on the left side of the screen will make application settings more accessible, and allow users to easily see what information each application is using.
Groups
The biggest announcement of the day was a new groups feature, designed to eliminate what Zuckerberg sees as the site’s biggest social problem: People don’t want to share everything with everyone on their friends list. In real life, people you want to communicate with are separated into natural groups: old friends, new friends, family, colleagues, etc. With the current Facebook, users can either choose to share a status update or photos with everyone they are connected with, or share with individuals via chat and messages.
With the new Groups feature, it will be much easier to share messages and photos with only a small group of friends. Groups will have privacy settings that allow content to be public, private, or completely secret. Zuckerberg also revealed that users will be able to use a group chat feature to communicate with fellow group members at the same time. This will help Facebook more closely mirror real-life social groups and interactions. With more and more people connecting with family and coworkers through Facebook, Groups seems like a good way to control who’s seeing what and not bug your 547 friends with your every communiqué. Check out the video below to see how the feature will work.
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