NPR:
Comcast, the nation’s largest cable provider, is buying a controlling stake in NBC Universal which has broadcast and cable networks and a movie studio. The deal would make Comcast one of the nation’s most powerful players in news and entertainment.
The possible ramifications of this are scary. What if Comcast decides to charge other cable companies more to carry NBC? What if they only allow NBC programming to be streamed online to their own Internet customers? This is a step backwards.
“With dwindling revenue and diminished resources, frustrated newspaper executives are looking for someone to blame,” he [Google CEO Eric Schmidt] wrote in the article published on Thursday.
“Much of their anger is currently directed at Google, whom many executives view as getting all the benefit from the business relationship without giving much in return,” he said. “The facts, I believe, suggest otherwise.”
Revenue from ads that appear alongside news articles on Google’s search engine represent a “tiny fraction” of the company’s overall revenue, Schmidt said.
Here’s a look at what Time, Inc. has been working on:
This type of device is exactly what print journalism needs to stay relevant. In a world of always-on communication, the printed word is out of date before the ink dries.
If Apple’s tablet is true, I expect this type of content to be at the heart of it.
This is from Apple’s Snow Leopard info online:
While most companies store contact information in centralized LDAP directories, IT administrators usually prevent users from modifying or adding their own contacts to the directory. This makes it hard for users to maintain a centralized list of contacts and access those contacts on multiple computers and devices they own.
The new Address Book Server in Snow Leopard Server solves this problem. Not only does it store contacts on the server, but it allows you to access and use those contacts on each of your Mac computers. With Address Book, you can even synchronize contacts to your iPhone for accessing your contacts on the go.
Google said Tuesday it is changing how it grants access to news stories through its search engine to give publishers more control over how much content people can see for free.
The move by Google marks a step toward placating the publishing industry, which has raised concerns that the popular search engine has undermined its revenues.
The changes will be made to Google’s “First Click Free” program, which allowed users free access to content through Google News that a publisher would normally charge for.
More than a few of the items on the list are certainly debatable, especially the last one, but the point remains: in only three years, the iPhone has seen an explosion in functionality that very few people could have predicted when it was first introduced. It’s become the electronic equivalent of a Swiss Army Knife, capable of duplicating or outright replacing many standalone devices and items and rendering others completely obsolete. It seems somewhat counterintuitive that something that costs as much as an iPhone could actually end up saving you money in the long run, but if you can actually manage to replace all 33 items on this list with an iPhone as I have, you’ll end up coming out way ahead.
Ramp Champ — the delightful carnival-themed game from the Iconfactory — is free for a limited time in the App Store.
There’s no reason not to get it. Be warned, it requires a wifi connection to download, as it is over 10 MB.
Michael Scalisi doesn’t think Chrome OS is a threat to Windows:
By completely omitting local apps and storage Google made it obvious that it’s not looking to replace your existing OS. Pichai acknowledged that not all apps will run on the Chrome OS and countered that “most people who buy this device next year…expect them to have another machine at home.” As my colleague Robert Strohmeyer pointed out last week, Chrome OS seems intentionally unremarkable. This demonstrates that Google isn’t positioning Chrome to take over as your media center, gaming machine, or professional workstation.
Apple support document HT3947:
The Push Notification service in Mac OS X Server v10.6 supports sending Push Notifications to Mac OS X v10.6 (client) iCal and Mail applications. Additionally, the service can be configured to provide Push Notifications to third-party applications which use the ServerNotification framework.
[…]
Currently, iPhone Mail and Calendar apps do not support Push Notifications from Mac OS X Server v10.6.
Getting this working on the iPhone would be a big step forward in getting companies to think about replacing Exchange servers with OS X boxes. That said, everyone I’ve talked to about this thinks going to Snow Leopard Server gives them push mail and calendars. Whoops.
Engadget has posted their new rules about crazy product names:
1. Product and company names that are regular English words shall be treated like proper English nouns, complete with proper capitalization. Example: DROID becomes Droid and nook becomes Nook.
2. Product and company names that are not regular English words shall be capitalized first as proper nouns, and then as the company treats them. Example: RAZR stays RAZR, but chumby would become Chumby.
Barnes and Noble on their e-book reader, the nook*:
As we head into December, we wanted to give an update on nook, the eBook reader that continues to be the fastest-selling product at Barnes & Noble.
We are beginning to ship this week, and are committed to doing everything we can to ensure that everyone who ordered a nook before Nov. 20 will receive it by Dec. 25. As units ship, customers will receive e-mails indicating the estimated arrival date.
The v1.4.0 release will have 13 new features, including an enhanced pedestrian mode for navigation while walking. A new interface will take advantage of the compass in the iPhone 3GS, shifting map position in tandem with a user’s orientation. Google Local Search should meanwhile allow quick access to subject and place searches, with matching directions.
Welcome additions. I’ve been using Navigon for several months with no complaints, though.