Apple Appears to Permit Google Ads Inside iPad and iPhone Apps

Apple Inc. doesn't appear to have barred Google Inc. and others from selling targeted ads inside iPhone and iPad applications, after implying several weeks ago that it might do so, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Software developers say their new and updated applications are getting approved by Apple, even though the apps are enabled to serve ads by third-party ad networks such as Google's Mobile Adsense and AdMob.

Every smaller firm that finds it has become a dominant firm, or is perceived as potentially dominant, will incure antitrust and other regulatory scrutiny. It might be that Apple and Google both must move more cautiously now that each is seen as reaching the threshold of dominance in existing markets that might be leveraged to attain dominance in new markets.

If the pattern continues, it will be good for advertisers, content owners and software developers, as they will have more freedom to pick their partners and keep more business leverage.

Apple on iPhone 4 Reception Issues

Apple says the signal strength indicator on its iPhone 4 is displaying incorrect results. "Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong," Apple says. "Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays 2 more bars than it should for a given signal strength."

In areas of weak signal, the "big drop in bars" when the device is gripped is "because their high bars were never real in the first place."

Letter from Apple Regarding iPhone 4

Nexus One Lessons

There are perhaps some lessons Google and everybody else can learn from the mixed results of the "direct to consumer" Nexus One effort.

Though it is hard to say for sure, the experiment might have influenced the current direction of the leading Android devices, ranging from the HTC Evo to the Droid Incredible and Droid X. If that was the intention of creating the Nexus One, the experiment bore fruit.

It might also be important to note that we had a test of two retailing concepts: the idea that U.S. consumers actually hate contracts so much they will pay full retail prices for advanced devices, and the notion that such devices can be sold direct from a website, bypassing the retail distribution chain the leading mobile companies use.

One might conclude that demand for unlocked phones is not as significant as one might have thought. The other observation is that the current retail model works pretty darn well, compared to "web only."

Also, after-sales support proved to be another weakness. Customers do not appear to have been happy with "email-only" customer support, and seem to have been scarcely happier with the added "by phone" support.

There's nothing wrong with experimentation, to test such notions. But we might remember that Apple was highly criticized for opening its retail store network. It now appears those critics were wrong. The retail store experience is helpful, maybe even necessary, as a distribution channel for advanced mobile devices.

Wikipedia To Add A U.S. Data Center � Data Center Knowledge

Wikipedia plans to add a third data center, budgeting $3.27 million for the new facility, on top of the $1.87 million it expects to spend on maintaining the Tampa and Amsterdam data centers.

That might not be much by commercial standards, but Wikipedia is a non-profit organization. In part, Wikipedia will use a $2 million grant from Google to help expand its data centers.

Virginia is a likely site for the second U.S. data center. Wikipedia also has data centers in Amsterdam and Tampa, Fla.

Wikipedia To Add A U.S. Data Center � Data Center Knowledge

Google To Offer Threaded, Non-Threaded Email Formats

Google is planning to offer a standard email option in Gmail in the next few months, Henry Blodget reports. Currently, Gmail presents email in a threaded format, in which replies and follow-on emails with the same subject line are grouped together. That's helpful to people who want to follow a single conversation as it develops, or refer back to earlier messages.

Others will find it less useful since the threading feature means new replies do not automatically appear at the top of the inbox, and that's where people are trained to look for new messages.

Apparently Google will simply offer a way to select the "threaded" or non-threaded" formats.

Google To Change Gmail, Add "Normal Email" Option Instead Of Just "Conversations"

How To Watch Movies And TV Online For Free

If you watch much television online, Googling around for it quickly becomes a drag. Clicker is a great one-stop shop for finding this content. It's legal content.

How To Watch Movies And TV Online For Free

Google CEO Eric Schmidt on 3 Key Trends

Google CEO Eric Schmidt says mobile, clouds and networking are three fundamental trends.

watch the video here