(Now when I can afford it, I’m thinking of a USB stick with applications?)

But I also want to point out some of my personal favorites: Atari 2600, Eudora and HyperCard to mention a few.

(Via Slashdot)

Cisco’s Strategy: Attack when you are least expecting it. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Apple enthusiasts were emotionally high and overjoyed by the good news about the iPhone. Then Cisco pulled away the very ground they were standing on, the fact that the so endeared name will cause controversy into the finite future.

Apple Inc. (formerly Apple Computers Inc. until Tuesday) has been fighting the trademark war with Apple Corps Ltd. for years, with substantial monetary losses on both sides of the gunfire.

New York Times covered the story more detailed also interviewing Apple’s vice president for worldwide communications, Katie Cotton and Mark Chandler, Cisco’s general counsel. Yahoo! also has some good coverage.

 
So it looks really, cool, and I actually do think, that the shear “coolness” factor will sell some iPhones, but at the same time it looks too fragile. I expect to see people scratching up half the screen the first time that slim Apple iPhone body slips out their hands.

On the other hand I don’t think your nor I, would mind giving the iPhone a test drive. (Rumors have it we can’t be expecting the phone before at least Q4 in Europe,

I recently mentioned ProfileLinker as one solution (ProfileLinker Simplifying Social Networking), but it also seems, through O’Hear’s article and previous post, that data portability from several networks is almost not present. (Also according to that post it must be noted that some networks do have the ability to export user data, ie. Flickr has an API for data export.)

However teen norms contradict a number of our expectations according to social networking sites, the opposing statement on the slashdot post also links to : Zephoria’sephemeral profiles. (Ephemeral – anything lasting but a day, or a brief time; an ephemeral plant, insect, etc. [1913 Webster]). So maybe starting anew, may be the solution for some, I don’t think it is a lasting solution. (Anoter related post of mine on networking teens, Nancy19 Your Future Leader?) Hence, it will definitely be interesting to follow these trends, and this is most likely only the first follow-up of more to come.

Well some of these “privileged” bloggers have felt the heat from critics. And I just read, most likely following this, Now Microsoft Wants Its Laptops Back. According to the post, Microsoft is sending new emails to bloggers underlining that these PCs are intended strictly for review purposes: “Just to make sure there is no misunderstanding of our intentions I’m going to ask that you either give the pc away or send it back when you no longer need it for product reviews.” — Microsoft rep.(?)

Microsoft definitely needs some good reviews for Vista now, and this PR-scheme does show some good will. Microsoft’s Zune continues to struggle, and was among the “prized” in Wired’s 2006 Vaporawards as the “iPod killer”.
Is Microsoft’s attempt to hook bloggers up with freebies an attempt of viral marketing? Should it rather be called guerrilla marketing? (spelling variation: gorilla). Choose for yourself!

Edit: I must admit I am biased to Microsoft from beforehand, and that I think that this could work as a bribe. (Added questionmark to post title)

My second follow-up is in regards to my post Domino effect for Apple’s iTMS? where the hopes have not exactly been realized. But according to NPD’s Press Release Apple’s iTunes Music Store (iTMS) led the market for paid digital video downloads. (With 90% of downloaded, paid videos.) Of the downloaded content: 62% were TV shows, 24% were music videos, and 6% were mainstream movie content. In my head that sums up to 92%, sounds like NPD failed to mention something. Well the number is 6! 6 percent mainstream movie downloads. It’s not much but it’s definitely as good start (especially for a Music Store.)

Via Mac1.no

Or NOT kiss? Slashdot posted that Simplicity is Out last week. Norman and Spolsky are behind this new trend in the making. As my own experiences can’t match theirs, I am going to step carefully around this matter. I am most eager to see what actual studies’ results may show on the subject, before going even more complex, (selling out to complexity), going deeper than I may already be, in lack of intentionally keeping it KISS. On the other hand I will disagree, but respectfully, to another essay by Norman where he argues that Google is not that simple, and the more complex MSN and Yahoo is easier. My personal experience, after using Yahoo for the past decade, and although I do still cherish Yahoo, I feel that their complexity is among reasons why Google became more popular.

Before appearing negative to Linksys’ iPhone, I must admit it actually in a way seems a little cool, except for selling out their VOIP’ing integration to Skype. Linksys’ iPhone family consists of Cordless Internet Telephones, that require a computer interface, and Wireless Internet Phones (WIP), that allow calls over accessible WiFi networks. The WIP phones are the ones that are more interesting, which allow you to view web content. In addition their top-model WIP330 runs Windows Mobile OS, and supports multimedia. However this is not very different from several phones on the market today, that offer WiFi options as well support for regular cell carriers.
On the down side there is no initial support for emergency calls. And you are still dependent on Wi-Fi coverage, something thats not necessarily always a free service yet.

(According to Attention Company, responsbile for the study)