| SPONSORED POST | Powerful Connections breakfast, April 30th
Come hear Scott Oki keynote, and support NPower's work in the non-profit community. Generous support from our sponsors (Microsoft, Accenture, Point B, Lake Partners, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), means all donations at the event will go directly to technology know-how for nonprofits. RSVP here. |  | | Amazon's grand plan for e-books: cut out publishers entirely?
By Eric Engleman on Monday, April 19, 2010, 10:24am PDT
Media writer Ken Auletta explores the epic battle between Apple and Amazon.com for the small but fast-growing electronic book market in the April 26 edition of The New Yorker. Auletta runs through some of the major events that have shaped that battle, including the introduction of Apple's iPad and Amazon's subsequent and sometimes-bruising negotiations with publishers over e-book prices. What really struck me in the piece, though, is the blunt assessment of Amazon's overall strategy for e-books — using them to hasten the demise hardcover books and then cutting out publishers entirely in favor of direct deals with authors. | | SPONSORED POST | Seattle University Software Engineering
Upgrade your career! Earn your Masters degree while continuing to work full-time. Our balanced curriculum of technical and management courses enhances professional leadership in planning, design and development of today's software systems. More information here. |  | | Microsoft plans Windows 'Intune' for managing PCs in the cloud
By Todd Bishop on Monday, April 19, 2010, 9:09am PDT
Microsoft this morning is releasing the first details of an upcoming online service, targeted to medium-sized businesses, for managing Windows-based computers from a web browser. The service, dubbed Windows "Intune" is being made available to 1,000 of Microsoft's customers and information technology partners in North America as of today. It will ultimately be made available as a subscription service, but the pricing hasn't yet been set, said Sandrine Skinner, a director for the Windows Client Commercial unit, in an interview. The idea is to make available to mid-sized companies the types of PC management tools that are commonly used by larger businesses -- including a web-based console for managing, updating, monitoring and tracking all the computers in a particular company. | Next iPhone found lost in a bar?
By Todd Bishop on Monday, April 19, 2010, 8:44am PDT
Someone, somewhere, is having a very bad day. Assuming this is real. Which it sure looks to be. Gizmodo has posted a detailed breakdown of a device that it says was found "lost in a bar in Redwood City (Calif.) camouflaged to look like an iPhone 3GS." That device, the site says, is a prototype of the yet-to-be-unveiled, next-generation iPhone -- complete with a front-facing camera, higher-resolution display, and flat back that gives it a less rounded look and feel. | Chart: Video games digging out of the recession, still below 2008
By Todd Bishop on Monday, April 19, 2010, 8:19am PDT
There's some good news for the U.S. video-game industry in the latest monthly report from the NPD Group -- with overall year-over-year revenue increasing 6 percent in March. That was more than at any point in the past year, not counting the peak holiday months. In other words, more people are starting to buy video games and hardware. But the numbers also show just how hard the recession hit the industry, because even with those gains, total U.S. industry revenue was still below where it was two years ago, in March 2008, before the economy turned down. | Bill Gates on applying the 'best minds to the biggest problems'
By Todd Bishop on Monday, April 19, 2010, 7:13am PDT
Bill Gates this morning gave a few more clues about the issues he'll be talking about during a series of events with college students across the country this week, starting later this morning at UC Berkeley. "How do we get the best minds, including young people, working on the biggest problems – poverty, global health, education, energy, and climate change?" the Microsoft chairman wrote in a short preview today on the Gates Notes, his recently launched site. He called it "an issue I've been thinking about a lot lately." | iPhone app dials up 25,000 pizzas
By John Cook on Monday, April 19, 2010, 6:50am PDT
Some people create mobile applications to manage finances, locate homes or connect with friends. Seattle entrepreneur Jim Bricker just wants to make sure you get that piping hot pizza to your doorstep on time. We first wrote about Bricker's intriguing iPhone app, Order Pizza, after it launched late last year. At the time, we questioned why anyone would decide to order a pizza through an iPhone app as opposed to simply making a phone call. But Bricker tells us that things are chugging along quite nicely, noting in a follow-up that more than 50,000 people have downloaded the app since its debut last December. It also has consistently ranked in the top 100 apps in the lifestyle category in Apple's App store. | Kin 'sexting' vid: Is this so bad?
By Todd Bishop on Sunday, April 18, 2010, 8:12am PDT
Microsoft has made plenty of real advertising and marketing missteps over the years, but this latest one seems open to some genuine debate. Take another look at this Kin marketing video that caused the big "sexting" dustup. Be sure to watch not just the controversial moment around the 30-second mark, but also the rest of the video, to get a sense for the lighthearted context of the whole thing. Keep in mind that the guy putting the Kin up his shirt is, in fact, a guy. This comment on YouTube has been receiving big votes of support. | |
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