CES 2011: low expectations?

Tablets and smartphones. But no surprises.

http://www.crunchgear.com/2010/12/15/ces-2011-let-the-boredom-begin/

Twitter’s U.S. Growth Is Stallingy

That might not be a problem. Facebook had slowing growth at one point, as well.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/242000-twitters-u-s-growth-is-stalling?source=feed

Apple Will Sell 9 Million Verizon iPhones Next Year, maybe more

Surveys suggest pent-up demand exists.

http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-will-sell-9-million-verizon-iphones-next-year-says-gene-munster-but-he-hints-it-could-be-double-that-2010-12?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+typepad%2Falleyinsider%2Fsilicon_alley_insider+%28Silicon+Alley+Insider%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

Smartphone Browser Landscape

A nice review of smartphone browsers

http://m.alistapart.com/articles/smartphone-browser-landscape/

$1.4 billion in Business Smartp[hone Subsidies

According to In-Stat, U.S. businesses will spend close to $27 billion on wireless data this year.

To help make sure they do, mobile operators will subsidize about $1.7 billion of costs, including smartphone subsidies of $1.4 billion.

In-Stat: This year US operators will spend $1.4 billion on smartphone subsidies

Don't Dismiss Netflix

Why Venrock thinks Netflix is not going to falter in its push to remain relevant in video business.

Smartphones and 3 Screens

How Big is European Demand for Fiber-Based Access Services?

European consumers value reasonable prices and high bandwidth access services. The issue is that they seem to value affordable prices more than they do higher speeds.

At least that is the conclusion one might draw from a new survey of 13,764 European online users.

When asked about the most-important considerations when choosing a new Internet service provider, 87 percent indicated "price" was important.

(click on image for a larger view)

About 62 percent said the speed of the connection was important. Most other issues, ranging from technical support, installation fees and type of connection were cited by 31 percent to 35 percent of respondents.conducted by Forrester Research.


Telco fiber services might lag the headline speeds offered by cable. Ian Fogg, Forrester Research analyst, suggests that where cable might offer 100 Mbps, telcos might offer 40 Mbps to 60 Mbps.

The issue is whether the "speed gap" will matter much. One would think it would. But in other markets where very-fast services are available, at higher prices, consumers do not seem to be buying them in large numbers. "Fast enough at a lower price" seems to be the winning formula.

Nook Color will get Froyo update, become a "real tablet"

Barnes & Noble plans to introduce an Android-powered color e-reader, the Nook Color. The device will have an seven-inch screen, as did the earlier device running Android 2.1.

The Android 2.2 update for the device which should give users access to the Android Marketplace as well as a more typical home screen, potentially making it one of the cheapest Android tablets on the market.

If the device retails for about $250, it would undercut pricing of somewhat similar devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab.

If you had any doubt that parts of the e-reader market would overlap with the tablet PC market, this move should eliminate those doubts.

Nook Color will get Froyo update, become a "real tablet"

Comcast Tests New Service That Combines Internet, TV

Comcast Corp. is testing a new service that combines linear television and some Internet content. The new set-top device combines digital video recorder functions with the ability to watch some web-delivered video and search for programs.

(click on image for larger view)

But it isn't just the ability to protect themselves from Netflix, Apple TV and other competitors. Typical cable set-top boxes are a bit underpowered in terms of supporting elegant user interfaces.

Time Warner Cable CEO Glenn Britt admits that over-the-top services have better user interfaces.

"I would not sit up here and say our user interface is really good," Britt said recently. "It's not as good as theirs."

Edward Rogers, deputy chairman and controlling shareholder of Rogers Communications also pointed out that set-top evolution in the cable industry has not kept pace with other developments in consumer electronics. "We realize that the evolution of these boxes has been a little slower than what we need," Rogers said.

Comcast Tests New Service That Combines Internet, TV - WSJ.com (subscription required)

http://www.cable360.net/technology/MSOs-Blame-Set-Tops-For-Their-OTT-Problems_44366.html

Will The Internet Displace TV?

Turner Broadcasting's Jack Wakshlag cites numbers saying the average American watches 32 hours of television a week while spending only 20 minutes on the web.

Meanwhile, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar has this opposing view. "If you talk to most human beings, they'll give up food and shelter before they'll give up their high-speed Internet connection," he says.

DEBATE: Will The Internet Kill Off The TV Set?

Google Launches Personalized Voice Search

Google Voice Search now enables personalized voice recognition. If you opt into personalized recognition, Google will begin to associate the recordings of the words with a user's Google account. Google then automatically will use these words to build a speech model specifically for a particular user. This speech model enables Google to deliver greater recognition accuracy. Although subtle, accuracy improvements begin fairly quickly and will build over time.

The first time a user accesses Voice Search, that user will be presented with a dialog to turn on personalized recognition. Users can enable or disable personalized recognition at any time.

The personalized recognition functionality is currently available for English in the United States.

To enable it, a user must have Android 2.2 or higher, and download the latest version of the Voice Search app from Android Market.

Official Google Mobile Blog

Will Financial Industry Need Underwater Data Centers?

Recent advances in high-frequency financial trading have made light propagation delays between geographically separated exchanges relevant,” write MIT professors Alexander Wissner-Gross and Cameron Freer.

The MIT researchers have done detailed calculations about where trading networks can locate data center infrastructure to capture additional microseconds. They first mapped out the locations of major global exchanges, and then charted the optimal placement of servers to create “chains” that could accelerate the transmission of pricing data and execution of trades. Many of the locations are under oceans.

read the paper here

Verizon Wireless to Sell iPhone: Only Issue is How Many

Among the longest-running "dramas" in the mobile business has been the question of when the Apple iPhone would be for sale by a second U.S. mobile provider. The betting generally has been that it would be Verizon Wireless. Here's a discussion of the potential differences, based in part on the different air interfaces and networks AT&T and Verizon Wireless operate.

Dish Wants to Buy a CLEC

Dish Network wants to acquire a competitive local exchange carrier, Liberty-Bell Telecom, that would give Dish the ability to bundle telephone service in 10 states, the Denver Post reports.

Liberty-Bell serves 6,000 residential and 4,000 business customers in Colorado, New Mexico and Utah. More important though, is that it is licensed to offer services in 10 states and has applications pending in four other states.

The historic take on the satellite TV providers has been that they might suffer as telcos and cable companies offered triple-play services. But Dish Network and DirecTV appear to be taking clear moves to alleviate that concern, in part. Dish would have to file applications in other states and acquire business rights to common carrier voice services in those additional areas to offer voice services on a wider basis.

Dish looks to acquire Liberty-Bell telecom - The Denver Post