Is there an Internet Operating System?

Here's an interesting blog post from Tim O'Reilly.  I am sure you have a point of view--one way or the other--about whether there is an OS for the Internet. I like you to review the post and either comment directly on his blog or on here.  I think it allows us to develop a broader view of the role of Internet as part of business models in the coming decade. 

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How Crazy is this? Why is this even relevant?

I know this is crazy. Why is this even relevant that so many watch this video and so many sites (including this blog-post) embed this video? 





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Any serious explanations? I mean seriously...

Apple iPhone OS 4.0: I Think it's All About Ads

There is a lot of excitement about iPhone OS 4.0--supposedly unveiled on Thursday, April 8.

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From a technical point of view, there seems to be a lot of interest around multi-tasking across apps (beyond what Apple provides natively). I think, the real game changer from Apple's point of view is if it introduces a powerful advertising platform for the mobile device.  The rumor is that Apple will introduce its mobile advertising platform (dubbed as iAd). I think this ad platform will be significant for Apple for many reasons.

iPad is sold at an aggressive price point--which implies that Apple is not making as much profit on the device. 30% of Apps is sizable but not significant compared to monetization through advertisements embedded through the content that consumers access and consume on iPad. This content includes games, music, video, magazines, books and others.  Instead of fighting the price of books or magazine subscription rates, Apple could focus on the lucrative advertising space with its superior ability to render advertisements.  I think iPad's appeal to various content owners will be that it is a more powerful way to understand the effectiveness of advertisements.

Worth watching to see what Apple may unveil on Thursday.

eBook Price War Rages On

And the price war continues between eBooks, retailers and publishers! If the pricing model for eBooks wasn't confusing enough, the release of the iPad has introduced more complications (Apple really needs to stop complicating every industry). Apple wants publishers to set their own eBook prices (agency model), similar to what they do for app developers, but Amazon has previously dealt with publishers under a retail model and capped eBook prices at $9.99. Amazon is pushing back and has halted sales of some eBooks as a result of stalled negotiations. With so many players in this game, and the game just beginning the price war is bound to escalate. Apple is holding strong to their model but will that damage relationships with publishers and online retailers? However the price is settled, this will set the precedent for the "new" publishing industry, which will certainly become more complicated as more eBook capabilities are introduced and as the business model in the publishing industry changes and develops.

Tablet wars! HP Slate

It's interesting to see the "tablet war" picking up. HP announced its tablet, HP Slate, a collaboration between Microsoft and HP at CES 2010.

HP recently released a new video, which interestingly showcases in 30 seconds, that it stands for everything that iPad isn't. Camera, Expandable memory, USB slots, etc.




I definitely don't think it would overtake the iPad in terms of popularity/ units sold, but it surely could be the second/ third best selling product in the tablet category.

One screen

I have asked a couple of times throughout our discussion of media and services why users would need "three screens and a cloud," when one screen should suffice. I haven't really thought the iPad was much of a revolution until I realized it may be the one screen I was talking about when I ran into this article on TechCrunch.

A company called OTOY moves everything to the cloud, and the TechCrunch article shows, through gaming, what is possible to do on an iPad using OTOY (shown below). The iPad doesn't need a state-of-the art graphics card to handle graphics rendering, when it can simply get a stream through its browser from OTOY.

Google shows its sense of humor

There is currently a race to be the city selected for Google's proposed high-speed fiber network. Some cities are doing all they can to show their excitement for the idea. Topeka, Kansas for example has decided to rename themselves Google, Kansas to show just how committed they are. Lots of companies might take offense to this type of imitation but Google has decided to embrace the idea and show its own sense of humor...Google has announced it is changing its name from Google to Topeka! Below is the Google (oh sorry, Topeka) homepage as of this morning.