12 new file formats in the Google Docs Viewer

Google Docs Viewer often gets used to open PDFs, Microsoft Word documents and PowerPoint presentations online. But the Google Docs Viewer also supports viewing of 12 new file types, without requiring a download of the documents.

Microsoft Excel (.XLS and .XLSX)
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 / 2010 (.PPTX)
Apple Pages (.PAGES)
Adobe Illustrator (.AI)
Adobe Photoshop (.PSD)
Autodesk AutoCad (.DXF)
Scalable Vector Graphics (.SVG)
PostScript (.EPS, .PS)
TrueType (.TTF)
XML Paper Specification (.XPS)

12 new file formats in the Google Docs Viewer - Official Gmail Blog

Verizon iPhone selling mostly to more-causal users?

Some data provided by Instapaper’s App Store might indicate that current iPhone buyers have different priorities than the early adopters, suggesting that iPhone users are becoming more "mainstream," and also that users do not feel the need to break their current contracts to get an iPhone.

Marco.org - Verizon iPhone selling mostly to existing iPhone owners?

Tablet Impact on PC Sales

The Apple iPad clearly caused a shocking deceleration of PC sales. Among the more interesting speculations one might make is the embrace of tablets by enterprises. Given that tablets do not easily allow enterprises to load or run many of their typical apps, one has to conclude that for many users, those apps are not so mission critical.

Which leads one to ask whether many organizations are getting the productivity enterprises believe they are, from many of their users, as well as whether enterprises have adapted their business process software largely completely to hosted access based on use of web browsers.

It also appears many enterprise users only require simple email access and apps that can be accessed using a standard browser. They've been carrying devices with fewer input, output and application support capabilities than they actually need.

Is The Second Dotcom Bubble Underway?

Some would argue there are 10 tell-tale signs that a technology bubble is building. Insert "social networking" for "New Thing," for example.

You can make your own decisions about how well the logic works for "cloud computing," "mobile payments" or "tablet computing." So far, by my reckoning, those other trends have not yet created "bubble" logic, but could. Keep in mind that the last Internet bubble, which began in 1995 or 1996, actually was a couple of bubbles, both Internet and telecom. It is possible there were be a couple of bubbles this time, if in fact a bubble is building.

But it also is fair to note that bubbles build because people really believe something "really big" will result.

1. The arrival of a “New Thing” that cannot be valued in the old way. Dumb-money companies start paying over the odds for New Thing acquisitions.

2. Smart people identify the start of a bubble; New Thing apostles make ever more glowing claims.

3. Startups with founders deemed to have “pedigree” (for example, former employees of New Thing companies) get funded at eye-watering valuations for next to no reason.

4. There is a flurry of new investment funds catering for startups.

5. Companies start getting funded “off the slide deck” (that is, purely on the basis of their PowerPoint presentations) without actually having a product.

6. MBAs leave banks to start up firms.

7. The “big flotation” happens.

8. Banks make a market in the New Thing, investing pension money.

9. Taxi drivers start giving you advice on what stock to buy.

10. A New Thing darling buys an old-world company for stupid money. The end is nigh.

Is The Second Dotcom Bubble Underway? Ten Telltale Signs | paidContent

Is iIt 1996 All Over Again?

Some entrepreneurs now starting mobile app and other firms were in primary school in 1996, when a wave of Internet innovation built, culminating in a great bubble and bust in 2001.

But there are ample enough signs that a decade later, we are likely seeing another great wave of innovation.

Will mobile applications and the technologies that support them change the way people communicate, get information and do business to the degree that the web did starting in 1996?

Some think so. Others are likely reminding themselves what happened last time.

For Mobile Apps, It’s 1996 All Over Again

Twitter Conflict with 3rd-Party Developers Heats Up

Twitter has recently been squeezing third-party developers since 2010, when it began buying and internalizing formerly independent applications that build on Twitter, and arguably making it harder for third parties to provide important functions Twitter believes are "core" features.

In that regard, Twitter recently shut off access to its service by several Twitter client applications provided by UberMedia. UberTwitter, Twidroyd, and UberCurrent were shut off from Twitter, said Bill Gross, CEO of UberMedia.

There are limits to "openness," it appears.

Statement from UberMedia Regarding Twitter’s Suspension of Service to UberTwitter, Twidroyd and UberCurrent | Business Wire

Mobile Hotspot an Early "New" 4G Application and Revenue Driver

Though the feature also is becoming something more common on 3G networks, the "mobile hotspot" feature has become an early "4G" application differentiated from what 3G has offered in the past. As important as 3G "PC dongles" have been as a driver of mobile broadband revenue for mobile service providers, the 4G mobile hotspot seems to play a similar role for 4G. 

You can argue about whether a mobile hotspot is markedly different from a PC dongle, but there is one important difference. A mobile hotspot eliminates the need to buy a tablet from a particular carrier. Just buy the tablet you want, get the Wi-Fi-only version, and use the mobile hotspot for on-the-go connections in the same way that a PC dongle can be used to support on-the-go notebook service.