Filed under: Competitive strategy, Google (GOOG), Apple Inc (AAPL)

With Google, Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) now saying that it will indeed participate in January’s FCC bandwidth auctions, one has to wonder which other non-telecom companies may throw their own hats into the ring. Google, who makes a low-key presence known while it plans to dominate the world’s information distribution, may try to trump the establishes, bloated telecom carriers and bring its services directly to customers. In a sense, though, there’s another company that would probably love to do that as well — Apple, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

In fact, it’s been said as much by Bob Cringely that Apple will be joining Google in bidding for some wireless airwaves come January. The two companies make a rather neat pair. After all, Google CEO Eric Schmidt does sit on the Apple board of directors.

While Apple is all about closed product ecosystems that work exceedingly well and are simple to use for all customers, Google operates in a completely open ecosystem that encourages direct customer interaction over a “walled garden” approach. In a sense, Apple and Google operate different business models. But, when it comes to taking their collective products direct to the customer, the two companies see eye-to-eye.

Therein lies what Apple may really be after — a slice of airwaves that does not need a bloated, national wireless carrier like AT& T, Inc.(NYSE:T), any customer two-year contracts at $60/month or any partner hassles. AT&T’s CEO Randall Stephenson may have underestimated Jobs, as many partners do. This time, though Apple has a mighty powerful ally: Google.

Will Apple use some of the airwaves (if it wins them) to have all iPhones use VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to make voice calls and surf the net and — over time — de-emphasize the AT&T network it currently relies on for each iPhone in the U.S.? Perhaps. If so, Jobs will have burned the telecom industry just like it has the music industry. It’s a brave new world out there though, and it will be exceedingly fun to watch what happens.

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After the ever so gorgeous n talented Angelina Jolie, it’s the brilliant actor Will Smith who’s smitten by the enticing world of Bollywood! The “pursuit of Happyness” is all ga ga over THE industry which churns out over a 1000 movies a year!!!
N yea … it ain’t jus the industry, but also the Indian culture […]

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Filed under: Cameras, YouTube

 Transcend has just rolled out its 16GB SDHC card for the masses, making this Class 6 card just about the largest capacity of its kind from Transcend. The marketing department claims to offer a guaranteed minimum writing speed of 6MB/s, but that remains to be verified in real world usage. 16GB is definitely a whole lot of storage real estate, capable of holding around 8,000 seven megapixel images before it requires a trip to the local hard drive. Another feature is a mechanical write protection switch to that prevents data from accidental deletion or over-writing, while ECC (Error Correcting Code) detects and corrects errors during data transfer automatically. This 139 Euro SDHC card is accompanied by a lifetime warranty.

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Microsoft and Mozilla are locked in a war of words over whose browser has the better security track record. All Web developers seem to care about, though, is that Mozilla just released the first public beta of Firefox 3, while Microsoft has yet to say much of anything about IE.Next.

One year on from the release of Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft’s IEBlog has posted The First Year of IE7, summing up the accomplishments of the browser:

According to internal Microsoft research based on data from Visual Sciences Corporation, there are over 300 million users are experiencing the web with IE7. This makes IE7 the second most popular browser after IE6. IE7 is already #1 in the US and UK, and we expect IE7 to surpass IE6 worldwide shortly.

Tony Chor, Group Program Manager for Internet Explorer at Microsoft, went on to discuss IE7’s achievements in the realm of security:

According to a vulnerability report published today, IE7 has fewer vulnerabilities than previous versions of IE over the same time period. What’s more, the report showed that IE7 had both fewer fixed and unfixed vulnerabilities in the first year than the other browsers we compared.

Obviously, this sort of claim was bound to ruffle a few feathers at Mozilla. First to chime in was Mozilla’s VP of Marketing, Paul Kim, who pointed out that the report Microsoft was citing was actually prepared by Microsoft, in Lies, Damned Lies, and Microsoft Security Marketing:

That should really say:

“According to a vulnerability report published today by Microsoft Security Strategy Director Jeff Jones, IE7 has fewer vulnerabilities than previous versions of IE over the same time period.”

This was quickly followed up by several other voices out of Mozilla, including Mozilla’s VP of Engineering Mike Schroepfer (aka Schrep), who debunked Microsoft’s claims in Apples, Organges, and the truth:

Wanting to verify the data I wandered over to the public IE bug database that Microsoft launched to great fanfare and I encountered this:

A vivid reminder that there is no way for anyone outside of Microsoft to confirm how many vulnerabilities ever existed in Internet Explorer.

Schrep then goes on to present his own metric for browser security performance over the past year, which paints a very different picture of IE7’s record:

Bug counts are meaningless, what matters is whether you are at risk or not. Symantec looked at this problem before as has Brian Krebs of the Washington Post. I recently found this up-to-date analysis of data on Secunia which paints the same picture. Firefox is safer than IE:

I’ll let you decide for yourself who to believe, but as Web developers, we don’t particularly care about which browser has the fewest security holes. What we really want to know is when we can expect the next browser version with new developer features and improved standards compliance.

Mozilla is clearly taking the lead on this front, too. Firefox 3.0 Beta 1 was released over two weeks ago, now, and Microsoft hasn’t even told us what the next version of IE will be called.

The inside word on IE.Next is that there will be information revealed at MIX08, but that isn’t until March. It looks like those awaiting Microsoft’s next browser may be in for a very cold winter.

This article provided by sitepoint.com.

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Filed under: Action, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Fandom, DIY/Filmmaking, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels

The future is about to begin shooting this March in either Australia or Budapest, and Entertainment Weekly sat down with Terminator Salvation: The Future Begins producers Derek Anderson, Victor Kubicek and Moritz Borman to pick their brains and find out exactly what our new, older John Connor (recently announced as Christian Bale) will be up to. Probably the biggest question on everyone’s mind — once and for all — is Arnold Schwarzenegger going to make a cameo? According to Kubicek: “He may make a cameo,” and according to Anderson: “It still hasn’t been determined, but if he does, it would be a very small cameo.” A bunch of rumors were also squashed during the interview; one of which alluded to the fact that John Connor wouldn’t play a pivotal role in the film. However, Anderson admits, “John Connor is an ongoing, very central character throughout the next trilogy. He’s leading the fight for salvation of humanity against the machines. So he’s very important.”

So if Ahnold won’t be showing up TO kick ass, what kind of characters should we expect to play opposite Christian Bale? Anderson says there will be “another major co-star with kind of equal presence in this installment.” When pressed to answer whether or not that character will be a Terminator, Anderson adds: “Yes…. Well, it’s hard to say. It is a new character introduced in the mythology that’s not replacing Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. It’s not like he’s stepping into Arnold’s shoes. It’s a completely new character.” Again, they asked, is this character a Terminator? “No, not really. That’s one of the big twists that if we told you –” Head on over to EW to read the entire interview, which goes on to address the whole “why the f*ck is McG directing this?” issue. You definitely don’t want to miss it.

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Filed under: Dessert, Recipes, Baking, On the Blogs, Christmas

Our cookie today is not one of my recipes. It doesn’t even belong to anyone I know. But I feel confident, judging from the Pioneer Woman’s past recipes, that it is a winner. She uses a technique I’ve never encountered to color her cookies, creating a glaze with egg yolk, water and food coloring in order to get that really lovely, glassy finish on her cookies (I’m sort of sad to only be learning about that method now, but rest assured, I’m adopting it from here on out). I especially love the effect it brings to the Santa cut-outs, because it accentuates his pack and boots. I almost want to bust out the cookie cutters right now. What are you waiting for? Go visit her food site to get the recipe and see all her terrific pictures. And let me know how the cookies turn out.

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Filed under: Cellphones

Although “innovative” isn’t exactly the word we chose to use when summing up Palm’s Centro, apparently the public at large sees things a little differently — or, so says this report, anyway. According to a buyer behavior writeup from Strategy Analytics, the Centro “attracted the most attention from nearly half of the tested US consumers who are intending to purchase a new mobile device” in Q4, and it even ranked ahead of the second-place Samsung i760 in the “appealing” department. Both of the aforementioned handsets were hailed as the top choices (saywha?) for folks “seeking a multifunction, fully integrated device,” while the Nokia Prism and LG Rumor also got a few props along the way. Of course, it’s always best to take these “studies” with a healthy serving of salt, but if you wanted something to debate about, you’ve found it.

[Via MobileWhack]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

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Filed under: Videos and Screenshots

Who doesn’t want to be part of the Yakuza? Sega’s PS3 exclusive Yakuza 3 looks to continue the series’ legacy of brutal sword fights. Jeux-France has more than a handful of videos and new screenshots to peruse through. Watch out for some of the later pictures, though. The barely-clothed women may be considered NSFW for some.

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Fun Dog Activities: Enjoying Time with your Dog

Dogs truly are a man or woman’s best friend. Let’s face it, they never want to borrow your clothes, they won’t tell you that you‘ve put on some holiday weight, they won’t date your ex, and they don’t borrow money you know you’ll never get back. Treat your dog the way he treats you. He might not ever tell you, but he wants to go on long walks on the beach. He wouldn’t mind a camping adventure for just the two of you, and he loves sports! What more could you ask for?

If it’s long walks through the park for you and Scruffy, then you’ll want to know how make that experience enjoyable for the both of you. The best thing to do is find a dog park where your dog can run and play, free from his leash, and maybe even take in a little swimming on a hot summer day. Most cities have a least one or two dog parks available seven days a week. Some cities on the beach even offer private areas for your dog.

If you and you canine pal prefer something more rustic, camping can be fun for both of you. Scruffy enjoys lying around relaxing, and you could take this time to catch up on some of that reading you’ve been putting off all summer. Being outdoors is fun for dogs, but depending on the area, you will want to know how to take care of your pet and check for ticks, fleas, and other dangerous pests that could be lurking on your dog’s skin. Do all you can to provide a happy, healthy, Dog camping environment for you and your pet.

Another thing dogs love is sports. There are several high energy sport activities that you and your dog may find to be fun and great exercise. You might try dock diving, a sport where your dog runs down a dock and leaps into the air, essentially diving into the water, or carting, a sport that teaches your dog to wear a harness and pull varying objects and weights. There are many other Dog sports that you and your pet might enjoy.

Maybe you would like to find out ways to get your pet into something less intense. There are many other opportunities and events for dogs that may be more your style. Perhaps your pet could be one of the next members of Dog Scouts of America. You may even be able to turn Scruffy into a therapy dog. There are so many choices when it comes to spending time with your favorite four-legged friend.

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