Blog Archives
Steve Jobs spotted on Apple Campus
By David Needle | May 29, 2009Reports are spilling in from various [Apple gossip sites](http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/09/05/28/steve_jobs_spotted_on_apple_campus_report.html) that CEO Steve Jobs returned to the campus this week for some high level meetings with other execs. Jobs is officially medical leave till the end of June.
Adding more fuel to the Steve's-Getting-Better fire, were [comments ](http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/05/27/the-woz-says-jobs-sounds-healthy-energetic/)by Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) cofounder Steve Wozniak. Woz said he spoke to Jobs recently and he sounded "healthy, energetic" on the phone. In response to a question by a *Wall Street Journal* reporter Woz, who was attending the All Things D conference, said Jobs "doesn't sound like he's sick." But he also said he has never asked Jobs directly how he is.
Sounds like some interesting dynamics in that friendship!
The news comes as Apple gears up for its [big WWDC developers conference ](/dev-news/article.php/3812391/Apples+WWDC+Gets+Its+Date+as+Rumors+Swirl.htm)June 8. The formal release of version 3.0 of the iPhone operating system is on tap, but there is a lot of talk that Apple might unveil a new iPhone as well. Apple VP of marketing Phil Schiller is already slated to give the keynote, but if Steve Jobs makes an appearance, even via video link, you know the Moscone Center will be rocking.
On the announcement front, one veteran Apple watcher said he'd be "shocked" if Apple debuted new hardware at WWDC. "I get asked this every year, and I have to remind people this is a software event for developers," Tim Bajarin, president of [Creative Strategies](http://www.creativestrategies.com), told InternetNews.com. "They don't do new hardware at WWDC."
Bajarin has no direct knowledge of Jobs' health, but said people he's talked to at Apple say Jobs has remained engaged on a daily basis working remotely.
Bajarin also dismissed rumors of some kind of larger iPhone, netbook type device. "Tim Cook's been clear they're not going to do netbooks," he said, referring to Apple's chief officer operating and the person currently in charge during Jobs' leave. During its earnings call in April Cook said netbooks today weren't a good consumer experience or anything Apple could put the Mac brand on.
"If we did find a way that we can deliver an innovative product that really makes a contribution, then we'll do that -- and we have some interesting ideas in this space," he said on the call.
How many engineers does it take to create a Wave?
By David Needle | May 28, 2009The age-old question came to mind here at the Google I/O conference, "How many developers does it take to create a great new application?"
It's easy to say a small team does the best work, but big companies generally have other considerations that can lead to staffing up development projects if not complicating their approval process. There is the installed base or legacy users to consider, for example, as well as competitive and marketing issues (pricing, trendy features, etc.). Google claims to care about none of it, at least in the early stages.
"Moving the Web forward inevitably leads to more Google searches and that's economically a good thing," said Vic Gundotra, Google's VP of engineering, at the Google I/O conference following the debut of [the innovative Google Wave communication service](/software/article.php/3822476/Is+Googles+Wave+the+Write+Stuff.htm).
Those ground rules suited brothers Jens and Lars Rasmussen, the creators of Wave, just fine. "Advertising model? We haven't thought about that," said Lars during a press conference Q&A. "The luxury of working at Google is we get to focus on technology and what we can do to make our users happy.
 |
| Google's Vic Gundotra, Lars and Jens Rasmussen Source: David Needle |
"After a certain amount of success, then we try and figure out how to make money from it. It was the same thing with Google Maps, a year and a half after release we started with advertising."
The Rasmussen's created Google Maps after Google bought its startup, Where 2 Tech, back in 2004.
Brin joked that not everyone at Google could convince him to greenlight a project in Australia and send along a hundred engineers to get it done. Actually, things didn't move quite that fast or grow that big.
Lars told me that Jens had the original idea for Wave and the two of them and one other Googler started work on it in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Later two others joined from the original Maps team for a total of five who produced the eventual Wave prototype in late 2007.
"The goal was to simulate running a startup within Google. I believe in small teams," he said.
A year later, as features were added and the system took shape, the Sydney group grew to fifty. About 3,000 Googlers have also been using the system as part of a test phase.
Google's big developer surprise
By David Needle | May 27, 2009SAN FRANCISCO -- Google was expected to show off some new features of its Android mobile development platform here kicking off its [sold out Google I/O conference ](/search/article.php/3822236/Google+Declares+The+Web+Has+Won.htm)and didn't disappoint.
But the biggest surprise came near the end of the keynote when Vic Gondotra, Google's vice president for engineering perhaps outdid even Steve Jobs who famously saves some news for the end of his keynote preceded by the phrase, "One more thing."
Gondotra's one more thing thrilled the 4,000 developers on hand at the Moscone Center here who gave the news sustained applause.
"We're giving away a box with a link to our SDK," Gondotra deadpanned, noting the latest Android software development kit available for download. "And we're including an Android phone, unlocked, with unlimited 3G data and calls for 30 days."
Even at $100 per Android G1 (CORRECTION: HTC Magic) device *, which greatly undervalues the likely retail cost, that's a cool $400,000 expense. Don't look for Apple to match that at its WWDC developer conference next month - but then it doesn't have to!
After the many "Woohoohs" died down, Gondotra had one more tease: If you thought that surprise was big, don't miss tomorrow's keynote."
Stay tuned. I'm betting on a big partner announcement for a new Android-based mobile device.
iPhone scores unusual cover credit
By David Needle | May 26, 2009Yep, there's an app for that too. The upscale literary magazine the *New Yorker* made an interesting announcement about this week's issue -- the cover art was created on an iPhone using a finger paint application called Brushes. You can see some other cool images created using Brushes [here](http://brushesapp.com/artists/).
Given that *New Yorker* covers are famous for their design, creativity and punch, it's quite something to think someone could finger their way to a worthy piece on a phone. The image was done by Jorge Columbo whose drawings first appeared in the *New Yorker* back in 1994.
He's been using an iPhone since February, according to a story at [the New Yorker's Web site](http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/tny/2009/05/jorge-colombo-iphone-cover.html), and discovered it has some unique advantages over a sketch pad. For one thing, it gives him the ability to draw when traveling.
"Before, unless I had a flashlight or a miner's hat, I could not draw in the dark," said Columbo. He also noted he can draw without being noticed because most pedestrians assume he's checking his e-mail.
**iPhone as publishing platform?**
Tony Bove, who created the first magazine about desktop publishing back in the '80s after the release of the first Macintosh, sees publishing potential the iPhone.
"That *New Yorker* thing is very cool," he said. "There are a lot of authors looking to do ebooks on the iPhone."
[Bove, who is an iPhone developer](/webcontent/article.php/3798386), concedes the small screen limits how much you can create and view, but is encouraged by reports Apple has an iPhone tablet in the works that might even be unveiled at next month's [WWDC](/dev-news/article.php/3812391/Apples+WWDC+Gets+Its+Date+as+Rumors+Swirl.htm) (Apple's developer conference).
"I don't want a laptop, I want that," he said. "The small touch screen becomes a limiting factor. But with a larger screen, even nine inches, you can do page layout.
"I think the combination of using a camera and these painting apps introduce a new art form. You can snap a picture and start messing with it. Apple wants to encourage this playfulness with images."
iPhone's enterprise march gets nice looking help
By David Needle | May 20, 2009Apple's made clear it would love to see the iPhone make [headway in the enterprise](/stats/article.php/3815316/iPhone+Finding+Success+in+the+Enterprise.htm), but hasn't made anywhere near the commitment in resources and support the more established RIM (BlackBerry) and Microsoft has. Much to the relief of IT staffers charged with supporting the iPhone, Apple did do a deal with Microsoft allowing the iPhone to work with Microsoft Exchange corporate e-mail servers.
And many other big enterprise software players, including Salesforce and Oracle, have come out with apps for the iPhone. Even Microsoft, which has to be flummoxed by the iPhone's out of left field, runaway success, has shipped [apps for the device](/dev-news/article.php/3791301).
The latest to join the party is the oddly-named [meLLmo](http://www.mellmo.com). This week, the company launched its first application, RoamBi, for the iPhone. RoamBi, a free download at the iPhone App Store, is designed to make spreadsheets, tables and other data from popular business apps, easier to view on the iPhone's small screen -- or as the company says -- transform the data "into stunning interactive visualizations" that can be viewed, analyzed and shared with others.
meLLmo's founders aren't newbies to the enterprise space having sold previous companies to Oracle and Business Objects. "We're developing software to enable the iPhone to consume and display information in a compelling enough way that you can leave your laptop at home," MeLLmo's chairman and co-founder Santiago Becerra said during a demo. "This is directly targeted at the enterprise."
Rather than shrink PC spreadsheets and reports to fit portable screens, RoamBi restructures the data from Excel, Crystal Reports, Salesforce CRM reports and several other applications, to be more accessible on the iPhone.
RoamBi uses Amazon's cloud service to operate as a software as a service (SaaS) application. The report files need to be uploaded using a separate browser-based RoamBi Publisher application before they can be transformed for viewing on the iPhone.
**Fingertip control**
You can see a video demonstration of how it works, [here](http://www.roambi.com/iphone-features.html). I don't know about leaving the notebook behind quite yet, but the way the software lets you, for example, flip through contact information with your fingertips in a familiar card file format and manage spreadsheets on the tiny screen is pretty cool.
RoamBi includes a series of "dynamic user interface templates" formatted specifically for the iPhone. These include: SuperList for publishing tabular data, CataList for publishing information in a catalog format, Cardex for publishing content in a file cabinet format and PieView for publishing content in a pie chart format
An enterprise version with more features that operates behind the firewall is in the works for release in a few months and will cost $99 per user, per year.
**UPDATE**: meLLO contacted me with this clarification on pricing:
"The enterprise version that sits behind a company's firewall is available now, starting at $10,000 per server license for 50+ users. Later this year, MeLLmo will introduce a premium SaaS offering with additional features for business users, for $99/user. The RoamBi iPhone app and basic SaaS offering (the RoamBi Publisher) are free."
Social networks a lousy deal for advertisers?
By David Needle | May 20, 2009It looks like social networks have a ways to go before they can be considered the next great advertising platform. At least that's what a study just released by [Knowledge Networks ](http://knowledgenetworks.com/index4.html)indicates.
The good new for the Facebook, MySpace and Twitter's of the world: 83 percent of the U.S. Internet population (ages 13 to 54) participates in social media - 47% on a weekly basis.
The bad news: less than five percent of social media users regularly turn to these sites for guidance on purchase decisions in any of nine product/service categories Knowledge Networks asked about. In addition, only 16 percent of social media users say they are more likely to buy from companies that advertise on social sites.
The categories in the survey include such consumer staples as banks and financial services, clothes, eating out (restaurants), cell/mobile phones and service, personal care products and cars or trucks.
As it turns out, what users like most about social media sites is using them to stay connected. Duh!
Fifty-four percent of those surveyed said "Staying connected" - to friends and family, as well as meeting new people was what they "most liked" about participating in social media. And while 63 percent of users agreed having ads was a "fair price to pay" for use of these sites, only 16 percent said they are more likely to buy from advertising brands that support them.
**Twitter has some growing to do**
The study also seemed to confirm that while fast-growing Twitter regularly grabs headlines, its use is not as wide as its high profile coverage would imply. Only about one percent of the total U.S. online population, and the same proportion of social media participants, use Twitter once a week or more often, according to the How People Use Social Media report.
The research was conducted from March 10 through 16, 2009, among 502 members of KnowledgePanel, which Knowledge Networks claims is the only online panel based on a representative sample of the full U.S. population.
Microsoft's Ballmer loves Bill, hates Bob
By David Needle | May 07, 2009PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Steve Ballmer had [a fine old time at Stanford ](/search/article.php/3819201/Ballmer+Microsoft+Is+Like+a+Startup+in+Search.htm)yesterday. The Microsoft CEO entertained a packed hall of students with tales of how he joined Microsoft 29 years ago after getting a call from his friend, and former Harvard undergrad dorm mate, Bill Gates, who said he needed "a business guy."
"My parents thought I'd lost my mind to drop out of Stanford Business School," said Ballmer. He'd just finished his first year and was mulling summer job possibilities when Bill G. called.
Ballmer's recollection of Gate's pitch reminded me of a successful recruiting call Steve Jobs once made to then Pepsi-Cola president John Sculley. "Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water to children, or do you want to change the world?" Sculley said in his book "[Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple.](http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Odyssey:+Pepsi+to+Apple-a06306541)"
"Bill got me to stay by saying we were going to put a computer on every desk, in every home," said Ballmer.
In his talk and Q&A session, the Microsoft CEO let the student's know the software giant was hardly an overnight sensation. "We kept grinding and grinding."
He readily admitted Microsoft's made its share of mistakes, if not outright disasters. "One thing people tease me about is this thing we had called [Microsoft Bob](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Bob). The screen loaded like a house and a dog talked to you about writing reports," Ballmer said, laughing as though he could scarcely believed Microsoft really did release such a product.
"It was like a precursor to 3D user interfaces," he said. "It flopped miserably, but didn't hurt us."
(Trivia Alert: One thing Ballmer didn't mention was that the Bob project was once headed by Bill Gates' girlfriend Melinda French, who he later married).
**A rough start**
Microsoft was 30 employees when Ballmer joined and Gates shot down one of his first suggestions. "I said we needed 18 more people. Bill said, 'the ones we have now aren't very good, why do we want more? You're going to bankrupt us."
Ballmer was quick to add there were in fact a lot of good people in the early days of Microsoft. The company hired friends and others who came highly recommended. But as Microsoft grew, Ballmer sharpened his hiring skills and said he looks for very specific qualities in a job candidate, regardless of whether their experience was with a startup or a big, established firm.
"The key to me is, 'Did you dig in? Did you perspire?' I don't care where they did it, but did their brain fan out and were you thinking comprehensively? And if it didn't work, can they be honest and direct about what happened? That's what's important to me."
He said the biggest mistake he thinks people make about deciding about their first job is not going somewhere where they'll love the work.
Internet Archive guy slams Google book settlement
By David Needle | May 06, 2009How big is the World Wide Web? How about 20 x 8 x 8 feet? And let's weigh it in at about 26,000 pounds.
Okay, maybe that's not the size of the Web, but those are the dimensions of the [Sun Modular Data Center ](http://blog.internetnews.com/apatrizio/2008/09/sun-updates-its-mobile-datacen.html)that now houses the "The Wayback Machine," an historical archive of the Web run by the non-profit [Internet Archive.](/storage/article.php/3696116) [The Wayback Machine ](http://www.archive.org/index.php)is a 150 billion Web page archive. And if you think everyone's twittering in the moment without a care for what's come before, consider the Wayback Machine has about 700,000 users and serves about 500 queries per second from its 4.5 Petabytes (4.5 million gigabytes) storage system.
"The average Web page weighs about 80 micrograms," joked Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle in his speech at the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) Software Summit this week.
As Kahle races to captures the Web, he chastised the library system in this country which he said was "imploding" and the proposed [Google settlement with book publishers](http://blog.internetnews.com/kcorbin/2009/04/google-defends-book-search-dea.html) over the digital rights to out of print books. Libraries are spending billions on a limited number of publisher's products and they're not bringing diversity to the local community. "There's more central control in libraries than there has ever been," said Kahle. "They're more like non-profit strip malls, controlled by for-profit publishers."
Kahle said he's especially driven to protect books because "books are how we think in long form. They're generally written by one person ... and can put across a big idea."
He lamented the rise of Amazon and Google as the primary distribution points of books and their content. Kahle said he thinks Google's efforts to digitize vast amounts of public domain and other books to make them more widely available is laudable, but he criticized the proposed settlement (now under review) with book publishers because it gives the search giant the right to digitize and control the distribution of out of print books that aren't necessarily out of copyright.
**Another monopoly?**
"It creates another monopoly," said Kahle. "It doesn't make sense for them to be locked up by Google, it's very screwy."
Going forward he warned the settlement might "determine the future of books and paid content."
In response to a question, Kahle, a successful entrepreneur, took pains to say he's not about making everything free. He thinks the publishing industry needs a new distribution system that would enable the "vending and lending" of online works.
He said he wants to be optimistic a new system will emerge, but so far "fhe book publishing industry has done almost everything it can to kill itself."
**Who invited this guy?**
So who else could help with this overhaul? Kahle said the event's host, the SIIA, is in a good position to if it did not spend so much time suing people."
Ouch.
Good news. The computer industry is not dead
By David Needle | May 04, 2009SAN FRANCISCO -- A small, but attentive audience gathered here for the morning keynote by Silicon Valley entrepreneur and author ("[Closing the Innovation Gap](http://www.theinnovationgap.com/)) Judy Estrin here at the Software Summit sponsored by the [Software & Industry Information Association.
](http://www.siia.net/softsummit/2009/schedule.asp)
[Estrin ](/bus-news/article.php/3808971/Confronting+the+Tech+Innovation+Deficit.htm)warned the audience of software developers and others that there are a number of fundamental problems wrong with the economy and infrastructure that are holding back innovation and the larger economy. And while computers and communications technology have long been the main drivers of growth, that's changing.
"I believe in the future the key drivers will be different, said Estrin. "Clearly energy and the environment are key areas and also healthcare -- that's different than just medicine but the delivery of those systems and how to provide it. And there are other drivers we don't even know of yet.
"That doesn't mean the computer industry is dead. But you have to be thinking more about interdisciplinary ways to address these new problems."
Estrin doesn't think globabilization is bad for the U.S. economy in theory, but it could be if we don't start measuring up.
"Closing the innovation gap is not about the U.S. versus other countries, we want the whole world to be innovative. But it's a disaster if others are innovative and we're not. You don't partner well from a position of weakness, but one of strength."
**Beware patent trolls**
Estrin also had a few choice words about patents which she said are not a good measure of innovation at a company. "It shouldn't be the sole measure of innovation because a lot of companies don't do anything with those patents," she said. "And there's a lot of innovation in open source and elsewhere that isn't patentable."
She also called for patent reform, noting so-called "patent trolls" are becoming a big problem. "This is patenting without bringing a product to market. It' just like the trading and flipping we saw on Wall Street. This is activity that does not drive innovation."
