Intel Gets into the "News" Business

Intel now is a content publisher. Intel has launched what it calls the "Free Press," a beta news section on its website that hopes to generate articles that are good enough for professional media outlets to republish. The subject matter is generally related to Intel, or technology generally.

“We are Intel geeks at heart, taking an editorial approach to producing stories with journalistic style and integrity, and doing it as objectively as possible while being transparent about who we work for,” according to a mission statement on the site.

If you think about it, this was always inevitable. The Web now democratizes publishing, music and video. But where most people focus on how this makes "user-generated" content possible, that usually refers to citizens and consumers adding their content.

But in a world where any Web portal is highly accessible to people and companies that want to use them, there is no reason why any single company cannot become the equivalent of its own "media." Where firms used to rely on third parties ("media") to aggregate audiences, and then spend money on advertising to reach those audiences, in today's world firms can simply aggregate audiences directly.

Efforts such as Intel's will be routine, in the future.

Intel Establishes Its Own Free Press - Digits - WSJ (link will open properly if you have a subscription to the Wall Street Journal electronic edition)

iPad is Fastest-Selling Gadget, Ever

According to Bernstein Research financial analyst Colin McGranahan, the iPad has now sold an estimate 8.5 million units and is a "runaway success," perhaps the consumer electronics gadget that has shown the fastest adoption, ever.

Information Week writer Paul McDougall also notes that the iPad is starting to have a measurable effect on PC sales. A recent research study by NPD found that 13 percent of iPad users would have purchased a PC if they hadn't been able to buy an iPad.

It's official: iPad now the all-time fastest-selling gadget

Brands Don't Necessarily Benefit From "Lots" of Followers or Fans

The sheer number of "followers" or "fans" a brand has does not seem to impress most users as much as the quality of the interactions, a study finds.

Brands Don't Necessarily Benefit From "Lots" of Followers or Fans

Invoke Live Social Commerce Report

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Users Save $2 Billion Each Month by Using Opera?

Use of the Opera Mini browser, which compresses Web data by 90 percent, saves lots of bandwidth, and therefore costs for users of mobile broadband services who pay "by the byte."

Based on the costs of browsing the Web on a mobile phone (on a per MB basis), users in a representative sample of 10 countries save over $802 million per month, or over $9.6 billion per year, Opera says, though it is possible to question that estimate.

Of course, that estimate does not take into account pricing for users who have unlimited-use data plans, though. If you have a flat-rate plan, the compression makes no difference, cost-wise.

Using estimates from typical usage in its sample of 10 countries, Opera estimates that the global cost of browsing is 47 cents per MByte. Based on that figure and the amount of data transferred by Opera Mini users each month, we calculate that Opera Mini users around the world save over $2.2 billion per month, or over $27.4 billion per year.

One can quarrel with the savings estimates, though. Opera assumes a cost of $2 per megabyte for users in the United States. That works out to a cost of $2048 a month for use of 1 gigabyte worth of data. Most users quickly can figure out that they can benefit from an unlimited data plan costing $30 to $60 a month.

At $30 a month, a gigabyte nominally costs just three cents. Perhaps a better way to view the data is that if users purchased their mobile broadband bandwidth using the most-expensive a la carte plans, they might save the money Opera claims. In practice, most users can figure out they need to buy "wholesale rather than retail."

Opera: State of the Mobile Web, September 2010

Acer Launching Tablets November 23

Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci told Dow Jones Newswire that it will be launching its first line of tablet PCs in New York City on November 23rd, priced from $299 to $699 each. That's all the man said, leaving us to speculate on the OS (though Android's been heavily rumored) and whether we're looking at the launch of Acer's 5-, 7-, or 10-inch tablets (or all of the above) priced with or without carrier subsidies.

Acer tablet PC line launching on November 23rd, priced from $299 to $699

Myspace Morphing: Not a Social Network but a Content Site

Welcome to the new Myspace

myspace | Myspace Video

Myspace has concluded it cannot compete as a social networking site, and is shifting focus to become a entertainment or content, heavy on the social features, for Millennials (basically a twenties audience).

The new Myspace reportedly will emphasize sharing and discovery of music, television, movies, games, videos and photos from within Myspace and from elsewhere. There is also an upcoming new mobile site and better apps for smartphones and tablets..

Social Network Morphs Into Entertainment Hub