I thought that news tended to slow down as we approached the holiday season. Obviously I was wrong. Here are some articles that grabbed my attention this morning (my quick commentary follows the “HTD” tag):
- Joost Is Now Officially Dead – Assets Acquired By Adconion Media Group – “Adconion Media Group announced this morning that it has acquired certain key assets from Joost, the ill-fated online video service started by the infamous Kazaa and Skype founders Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis.” (source: TechCrunch) HTD: It’s pretty obvious that online video content delivery wars will continue to go crazy during the next year. It’s Hulu vs the Networks vs. Netflix vs. iTunes as people figure out ways to do a la carte television channels. I think it’s really time for cable & satellite providers to allow customers to pick & choose just they channels they want…but they are scared about lost revenues.
- Large Hadron Collider reboots, makes first protonic bang! – “Yes, ladies and gentlemen, that most epic triumph of human engineering and physics research has finally taken place, and strangely enough our planet’s still in one piece too.” (source: Engadget) HTD: Wow, I guess that since I’m writing this, our entire existence hasn’t been sucked into a vortex of anti-matter. Or maybe we are just living an alternate reality and don’t even know it. We all could be just some giant science experiment! Seriously though, this is a tremendous scientific endeavor that hopefully will produce some stunning results.
- More Android Users Get Google Maps Navigation – “Navigating your way out of town for Thanksgiving got easier for more Android users, thanks to Google. In a blog post , Google announced that Google Maps Navigation Beta (of course) is now available for free for mobile devices running Android version 1.6 and higher.” (source: PCWorld) HTD: When Google announced Google Navigation for the Droid, it was a direct shot at the iPhone. Now that they are rolling it out for other Android users, its aimed at GPS software and hardware manufacturers. I have tested Google Navigation and it will turn the GPS market on its head. If it rolls out on other platforms (e.g., the iPhone OS), the GPS market is doomed. It’s a great move by Google to further leverage their data or the data they have purchased but I personally feel sorry for Garmin, TomTom, Magellan and the likes.
- Farewell, triangles: AOL preps its post-Time Warner look – “It’s the media equivalent of moving out of your parents’ house, heading to the nearest tattoo and piercing parlor, and yelling FREEEEEEDOM!: AOL has unveiled the “new brand identity” for its post-Time Warner era, slated to begin December 10 when it begins trading on the New York Stock Exchange as a separate company.” (source: cnet) HTD: Hopefully because they have spent so much money on this logo “redesign” that we will NEVER have to see another AOL, sorry, I mean Aol. CD again. Honestly, I think this is a silly change. It doesn’t even work in a sentence (see the previous one) because it breaks the flow. Is that what Aol. is trying to do? Mess up our auto-correct when we type? I wish them luck but I sure hope they didn’t spend GOBS of money on this “new” look.
That’s it for this mornings round-up. Anything you saw that was interesting? If so, let me know.
HTD says: What are your sources for news?
