Facebook Phone Might Not be a False Rumor

Facebook developers are said to be working on a secret project, and that project may be a Facebook phone, despite the company's denial.

Two well-known developers at Facebook, Joe Hewitt and Matthew Papakipos, are said to be holed up working on a project that few people have knowledge of, including other Facebook staff. Hewitt is known for his work on Firefox and a web-based 'OS' known as Parakey before working for Facebook. There he worked on a mobile version of the website for the iPhone, as well as creating the native iOS client.

Facebook denies phone rumors, but possibility still exists

Is Apple Working on a 7-Inch Screen iPad?

Apple might be looking to develop a new version of iPad, this one with a 7-inch screen and bring it to market sometime in 2011, according to a research note put out by Rodman & Renshaw analyst Ashok Kumar.

Some of us think that is a smart idea. The current iPad is too large to be a device normally carried everywhere, at least for some of us who have to use a notebook or netbook.

The Samsung Galaxy is available in a 7-inch form factor already, for example. 

Some smartphones, meanwhile, now feature 4-inch screens with very good "full web" access. In fact, some of us prefer to use the full web browser rather than apps for many tasks.

But content creation on a 4-inch smartphone still is too difficult. A 7-inch form factor is where the gap is, for a couple of reasons. It might just be small enough and light enough to lug around with a netbook. And it might be workable as a content creation platform for some tasks.

Is Apple Working on a 7-Inch Screen iPad?

In Case You Were Wondering Why Air Travel is No Fun

This chart pretty much tells the story about why air travel is not fun anymore.

Though one can make a good argument that it is better for the nation when more people can fly routinely, airline pricing has not kept up with the costs of operating airlines.

It is a business that in most years does not actually make money, for those reasons.

Despite "Good Intentions," Regulatory Reform Ultimately Fails

It is tempting to think that the government can "do something" to prevent consumer gouging, financial fraud or other ills. Certainly regulations and laws can be crafted.

The problem is that when the stakes are high enough, businesses always will have incentives to comply with the new regulations or rules and then simply shift effort elsewhere to recoup their losses.

Banks, like almost every other business that works under any federal regulations, are like water seeping through cracks in the rock.

The financial reform bill will ultimately fail. When there are huge financial stakes, smart people will find ways to evade the rules and strike out in new areas. That observation is simply a matter of historical record. Sarbanes Oxley rules designed to prevent Enron style failures have not prevented any of the current wave of failures. As nearly as anybody can determine, Sarbanes Oxley, despite imposing huge costs on public companies, prevented nothing and protected nobody.

Every set of regulations essentially fights the last war. But that never seems to deter people from thinking they can prevent the next problem by protecting against the last one. That's virtually never the case.

Banks Find Ways Around Reform Costs - 24/7 Wall St.:

Facebook Building Its Own Phone???

Facebook denies the rumor, but is said to be planning on building and distributing its own mobile device.

You might wonder, if the rumor is true, why it might do so. Some speculate that Facebook might believe it cannot have as much impact on the mobile world as it has on the web without one.

Having its own device helps Facebook become a mobile platform, not just an app running on a platform.

Here's Why Facebook Is Secretly Building A Phone: It Needs To Be A Platform, Not Just A Service:

Will Verizon Launch Apple iPhone on its LTE Network?

It is questionable whether a faster mobile network automatically leads to consumer demand. "Hot" devices or lead applications tend to be required as well. All of which might suggest the best way for Verizon Wireless to stoke demand for its coming Long Term Evolution network is to launch the Apple iPhone directly on 4G, rather than its 3G network.

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Short Mobile App Shelf Life Isn't Necessarily a Bad Thing

Today the average smartphone has 22 apps on it, but the half-life of an app is about a month. In six months only five percent of them have been retained, according to Borrell Assoiciates.

That isn't necessarily a bad thing. The most-popular type of mobile app downloaded to smartphones is "games." People play them for a while, then move on.

Other types of content, such as movie or other content apps, will have a similar short shelf life. People watch TV shows or movies and then do not necessarily return to using them in the future. That's not a problem; it's an opportunity.

But the general observation still holds: few developers are likely to make much incremental revenue from their mobile apps. But that might not be the primary purpose for producing an app.

Promotion always has been a leading reason for advertising, and apps with short lifespan that promote purchases of movie tickets, content, games and other products still are worth doing, from that perspective.