Google is Winning

"I would point out one thing. In tech, whenever you see companies teaming up and forming partnerships and alliances against one company, it always means the same thing: that company is winning," says Dan Lyons.

In some ways, that is quite a turn-about from the situation of just a few months ago, when people were speculating about whether Google had gotten too big to innovate effectively.

The real reason that everyone hates Google all of a sudden

Mark Cuban Says "End all Software and Process Patents"

Mark Cuban thinks the patent system is so out of whack that the only rational solution is to abolish the ability to file a "process" patent, or software patents.

"End all software patents," he says. "Don’t make them shorter, eliminate them."

"I have no problem with software being copyrightable just as it always has been," But process patents should be abolished. Some of you who have read such patents probably will agree.

My Suggestion on Patent Law

"I’m Quitting Phone Calls," TechCrunch Writer Says

Not too many people who work will have the precise set of work issues and tasks that lead TechCrunch writer James Altucher to detest work-related phone calls. His job requires intense scanning of content related to technology, and most phone calls are interruptions. He also points out a problem many others see, namely that text-based communications are easier to handle. He also is a non-native-English speaker who has to deal with lots of English content, so that is a factor as well.

"Barring some absolutely necessary phone calls, which will boil down to only a couple per month, if that all voice-based communication for professional purposes is out of the question, including Skype, Viber, mobile and landline calls," he says. "You can call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure it will be awesome, although, to be fair, it’s a fairly easy decision for me to make."

Some of us who do similar work would agree at least partially with the sentiment. We might argue that the richness of Web-based content and text-based communications now allows less reliance on voice communications. Some of us wouldn't go quite so far, but for a different reason.

Rarely does a text "press release" covering any significantly-complex product actually succeed in explaining what something "new" is, well enough so a writer can, with confidence, explain "what it is" or "why it is important." In part, that's by design. The traditional way press releases are developed is that they are just teasers to provoke an interview.

The problem with that traditional approach is that many of us do not have the time to conduct many such interviews anymore. We simply have to cover so much material that the "release" has to do all the work. That's tougher. So, no, some of us will not be dispensing with voice calls, because we really cannot.

But that probably isn't the main point. The big switch is how little I actually use "voice" anymore, and how little of it really is required to get my work done. Of course, like Altucher most of my work involves "searching" for new developments to write about. That can be done almost exclusively with text and Web tools, these days.

I don't find this to be true for sales professionals, though. They still lean on voice.

I’m Quitting Phone Calls | TechCrunch

Verizon's Wireline Unions Go on Strike

About 45,000 Verizon Communications workers walked off the job Aug. 7, 2011 after negotiators failed to reach an agreement on a new contract, marking the first strike at the telecommunications giant in 11 years. That represents about half the workers in Verizon Communications wireline business units.

Most of the workers, represented by the Communications Workers of America and International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, are in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the United States, where most Verizon customers are found, and handle the wireline side of Verizon's business.

Read more here.

Google+ Circles: Privacy as Social Media "Dark Matter"

Google SVP Vic Gundotra says there is a good reason much content posted by female Google+ users does not seem as prevalent as material posted by males. "Sometimes if you're not careful, when you're just observing from outside, you mistakenly might be saying, 'Oh, the women aren't commenting.' But it's just a matter of taste," Gundotra says. "They may be doing it to Circles, and you're just not seeing it."

"You'll visit a woman's profile, and it will look like there is no activity. But if you're in one of her Circles, it's filled with content," says Gundotra. "When people share, they are two to three times more likely to share to a Circle than publicly. That means most of the excitement on Google is dark matter; it's not visible."

Google+ and "Dark Matter"

HTC Purchase of Dashwire Appears to Represent Patent Protectiion

In another example of the importance patent portfolios now represent, HTC Corp. agreed to acquire all of the shares of U.S. mobile Internet applications company Dashwire Inc. for as much as US$18.5 million, in a move that could give it more tools in possible future patent litigation against competitors, including Apple.

HTC Purchase of Dashwire Could Help in Patent Suits - WSJ.com (subscription required)

Verizon Workers Might Strike

Typically, a strike at a major telecommunications company means, among other things, that all management vacations get cancelled. That might happen, as Verizon workers are threatening a strike.

Microsoft, Google Spar over Patents

If the sparring is a bit unusual, it might be because the stakes are so high. Many observers say patents might be emerging as a way for Android competitors to raise costs for every Android handset sold, at the very least. In other cases, where cross licensing is not possible or desired by some contestants, some Android software might have to be completely rewritten. Where patents cover processes, even that might not be entirely possible, at least in principle.

Better Web App Communications Coming

In today’s browser ecosystem, web apps are completely disconnected, or require the use of complicated APIs in order to make use of a third-party service such as posting a comment to Twitter from a custom publishing domain.

The Android operating system addresses this problem with "Intents," a facility for late run-time binding between components in the same or different applications. In the Intents system, the client application requests a generic action, such as a "share," and specifies the data to pass to the selected service application.

Google developers are working on an analogous system for the Web. "Web Intents" will be an API will provide the same benefits of Android Intents, but better suited for web applications. That presumably will make the web apps user experience more like the mobile apps experience.

Connecting Web Apps with Web Intents

More Apple-Google-Microsoft Patent Battles Coming?

Google and Apple now are said to be sniffing around for InterDigital patents, in the wake of a consortium purchase of Nortel patents (Apple was part of that group) and a Google purchase of some patents from IBM.

Google has nearly $40 billion in cash and cash equivalents to spend, but Apple has almost double that. And if Apple teams up with Microsoft again, they’ll have over $100 billion in buying power.

Some might argue that, for such reasons, Google will not be able to out-bid Apple, and therefore will be exposed to patent litigation related to Android. Others might argue the whole matter is raising in a new way the need for patent reform, while some might even think the Justice Department will have to intervene.

Competition, many would agree, is a good thing. But it now appears that patent litigation now is increasingly used to stifle competition. And that could become a restraint of trade issue.

Patents Issues Growing?

MtetroP{CS, Leap Troubles Not Helpful for AT&T?

A 40 percent -plus plunge in the stock prices of Leap Wireless International and MetroPCS Communications, triggered by disappointing quarterly results, could be bad news for AT&T, the Wall Street Journal reports. The reason, of course, is that AT&T has touted the amount of regional competition as evidence that U.S. mobile markets would remain robustly competitive even after a completed AT&T purchase of T-Mobile USA.

Any sign that the regional competitors are not faring so well would raise doubts about the ultimate state of competition in the mobile market.

AT&T's Great Leap Back WSJ.com (subscription required)

App Makers Focus on Repeat Buyers, In-App Purchases

Mobile developers are increasingly focusing on engaging repeat customers rather than chasing sales of apps to new users, according to a new survey of developers by Appcelerator.

Developers also are looking to in-app purchases for revenue as well.

Just over 2,000 developers were surveyed by IDC and Appcelerator between July 20 and 21, and just about half of them said pure sales of apps was the primary strategy driving their business model. That’s down about nine percent from Appcelerator developers surveyed six months ago.

Developers see in-application purchasing rivaling app store sales for monetization by 2012, in fact.

App makers relying more on repeat users to make money

Ultrabooks and tablets a Fad?

In a statement that is brave or foolhardy, Acer founder Stan Shih says tablets are a fad. What he seems to mean is that PCs are the base of the IT industry and tablet PCs are also developed from the base; therefore, in the future, products will still need to go through the PC platform to create even more add-on value.

Shih added that Apple achieved success with iPad through its outside-the-box thinking, which is an attitude that all notebook players should learn.

Ultrabooks and tablet PCs are short-term fads, says Acer founder

Amazon set to sell 3 million tablets this fall?

According to CENS.com, Amazon expects to sell three million of its Android tablets this fall. Quanta Computer Inc., the contract manufacturer putting together Amazon's tablet, has been told to keep the assembly line running to the tune of 800,000 to one million units produced each month from August through October. As a point of reference, consider that Motorola said it expects to sell half that amount for the entire year.

Amazon set to sell 3 million tablets in fall?

12% of U.K. consumers don't carry cash

Some 66 percent of U.K. consumers say they don't like using cash, and one in eight has stopped carrying it entirely, according to Barclays.

The research was done by Populus, which interviewed 2,000 people and discovered that the average UK wallet contains £23.

12% of UK don't carry cash