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Business 2.0 is speculating that Google might be getting ready to roll out a free nationwide WiFi network. The network could be a new rollout, which is most likely given Googles recent acquisition of fast fiber networks, or could be similar to an MNVO and piggybacked on another providers hardware infrastructure. In either case, the service would be supported by Google AdWords. Best guess is that Google would inject an iFrame into every website visited on the access point, thus generating revenue via their advertisers. The idea of a nationwide free access point network is positive in my eyes - ad supported content and bandwidth really could be the wave of the future!
Read More 
| Business 2.0
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Now this is the swankiest geek presentation of the original Star Wars IV I’ve seen yet. Some creative peeps have turned the entire movie into ASCII art which is now available using Telnet. If you want to see it, open up the command line on your computer (Terminal on OS X, or “CMD” from the run option of your Windows PC) and type “telnet towel.blinkenlights.nl”. Hit enter a few times and sit back with some popcorn to enjoy the show. Speaks well to the power of good old ASCII text. If you are using IP V6, you get color!
There are so many people who have jumped on the blogging bandwagon. There have been some instances where blogging about your employer, whether it be negative or influential comments, have cost people their jobs. Career Builder has posted some handy guidelines to follow so you’re not next on the chopping block.
Read More | MSN Careers
Latest Gear Live Videos
iTunes Coming to Google?
Posted by Alex Grahmann Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Portable Audio / Video,
Citing “market chatter,” TheStreet.com is reporting that a deal is in the works between Google and Apple to provide the iTunes Music Store through Google’s webpage. However, the details of how this might change the way users access the iTunes Music Store – which has traditionally been a standalone piece of software - have yet to be announced. Guesses ranging from a complete web-based overhaul of the iTunes system to a simple, yet prominent, link to Apple’s iTunes download site on Google.com have been circulated, but with no official announcement coming from either company at this point, we’ll all just have to wait and see what happens. Check back for more details as they emerge.
Read More | TheStreet
iTunes Eyes Video Blogging, but is the Vlog Ready for Prime Time?
Posted by Mac Harris Categories: Features, Internet, Movies, Podcasts,
Video Blogging, or Vlogging, is quietly gaining momentum in the weblog community. For those of you not in-the-know, Vlogging is basically taking the idea of podcasts to the next level. A video broadcast (yes, people also call them vodcasts) is placed into an RSS/Atom enclosure and syndicated around the web in the same way a regular blog works.
Apple has suspiciously added a form of video blogging support to its latest iTunes iteration. This is the first corporate endorsement of the fad/trend/media-revolution that I’ve seen so far. One of the biggest hurdles to the success of Vlogging has been the complexity and difficulty of taking video clips and getting them onto the web quickly. Traditional DV Cams require capturing, editing, encoding, and uploading before a finished video clip is online and ready for distribution. Webcams offer some relief but usually produce low quality video in tiny onscreen windows. The mobile aspect of blogging and photoblogging is another stymie for the video blog . In the U.S. today very few mobile devices offer decent video recording with the ability to upload or publish content to the web.
The issue of bandwidth is also a key to the success of the video blog. Traditional and photo blogs require very little bandwidth, as text and basic images are small in size. Video files are comparatively massive, especially when you consider syndicating these videos all over the web. The bandwidth costs associated with running a videoblog are potentially exponential compared to a text-only we.
Can video blogging displace TV news reporting? Will America be tuning in to bedroom versions of 60 Minutes on their PCs while televisions begin to collect dust? Could Google Video solve Vlogging’s bandwidth woes? Comment wars in 3,2,1…
Opera Offers New Mini Browser For Cell Phones
Posted by Devin Categories: Smartphones, Internet, Software,
Opera Software has recently announced a new version of its popular Internet browser which will allow web surfing from almost any cell phone, regardless of phone price or memory size. The company says that the Opera Mini browser will allow surfing for about 700 million lower cost phones that would otherwise be unable to access the web due to insufficient memory that wouldn’t previously allow for a browser. The Mini only requires that you have a small Java program on your phone, since the browser works by having a remote server pre-process the web page then send it to the phone, rather then the phone itself doing the processing. At the moment, Opera Mini is only available with software from Norwegian TV network TV-2, but we can expect to see a larger distribution in the future.
Read More | USA Today
Microsoft released an update to their MSN Messenger software for the Mac. The newly released Microsoft Messenger 5.0 makes some significant improvements on the previously released versions and seems to fit much better with OS X. The new version features blue gel buttons, a brushed aluminum frame, and support for newer MSN Messenger technologies such as display pictures, advanced emoticons, and easy conversation saving. Gear Live still feels that both AdiumX and Proteus are superior chat clients for OS X featuring not only support for multiple chat networks, but a highly configurable UI - but Microsoft Messenger 5.0 is certainly a step in the right direction.
Read More | Mac Messegner site
1 Million Songs Sold in First Four Days of Japanese iTunes
Posted by Alex Grahmann Categories: Corporate News, Internet, Music, Portable Audio / Video,
Debuting with prices ranging from ¥200 and ¥300 per song ($1.80 and $2.70), Apple has exploded onto the Japanese digital audio scene by selling over 1 million songs with the new service in under four days. Proudly, Japanese artists grabbed the honors for both the top-downloaded song (Def Tech) and the top-downloaded album (Ulfuls). Steve Jobs was quick to point out that the four-day business enjoyed by the Japanese iTunes dwarfs even a month’s worth of business on any other Japanese service. With the struggles that other American companies, such as Microsoft, have had breaking into some Japanese markets, Apples success in this area could bode very well for the company.
Read More | MacWorld
Google Hates CNet for Google Searching About Google
Posted by Edwin Soto Categories: Corporate News, Internet,
Is Google > CNet? The search engine giant blackballed CNet reporters after the network reported privacy concerns for those being searched. Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt, was searched on Google to prove a privacy point. His salary, neighborhood, and even political donations were publicly displayed. Google’s answer: don’t talk to CNet for a year. Seems a bit childish to give the silent treatment for something that is publicly available. I mean, if I can’t use Google to search all of my old girlfriends, I’m going back to Yahoo! Well, at least for one year.
Read More | CNN Money
The previous Apple Switch pages were full of controversy they were all about “The Power of Unix”. Seems as though Apple listned to the feedback and refocused their Switch pages. They now list 10 reasons why people should make the switch along with information which helps potential buyers choose the right Mac. It even goes so far as to show the ease of migrating PC data over to a new Mac. The “Power of Unix” is no longer the theme, as the Switch area now focuses on the “It Just Works” mentality.
Simply take a Mac out of its box, plug it in and start surfing, working or rocking. And when you want to add something new — such as a digital camera or iPod — you just plug it in and start using it. Too good to be true? No, the Mac is exactly that good.
Read More | Apple: Switch
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