Holy. Crap. I don’t think we have any unbruised skin left on our body to take any more lumps regarding our mobile strategy. The Microsoft Mismanagement theory is in full force as we throw any […]
Category: Tech
Windows Phone 'Lie to Me' Edition
Last week, while watching Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s stiff introduction to Windows Phone, I wondered about his facial and body language. He didn’t exactly seem happy to be introducing Windows Phone, which launches a new brand for Microsoft and its hardware partners.
2001: An Apple Odyssey
It is not uncommon for bloggers and journalists to get hung up on the present. For Apple, there’s big noise about soaring stock price, even considering economic recession, and increasing demand for iPhone. But the past defines the present. For Apple, products or services launched in a single calendar year—and the consistent execution that followed—define current successes, including iPhone.
I contend that next to 1984, when Apple launched Macintosh, 2001 was the most important year in the company’s history.
SAI Chart of the Day: 2B App Store Downloads
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. A chart can say so much more. Earlier today, Apple announced 2 billion downloads from its mobile App Store and 85,000 applications available. Silicon Alley Insider put that apps into a shocking chart.
Now This Is Advertising!
Only Microsoft could be so bold. As I explained in my last post, TechFlash’s Todd Bishop and I have been bantering back and forth about what is advertising. Oh, these IM arguments can be brutal. Anyway, […]
What is an Ad?
TechFlash’s Todd Bishop and I disagree about what constitutes an ad. I ask you which of us is right. The disagreement started over Todd’s post “Windows Ads, Finally Cool?” He reports about some Windows 7 videos that popped up online a few days ago.
I saw the same vids on Tuesday night and almost blogged about them. But I recalled reading something a few weeks ago (from the esteemed Long Zheng) about the same videos being produced conceptually for Microsoft. Also, the run times were all wrong for broadcast. Nobody airs a 51-second commercials. I dismissed the videos as YouTube-distributed marketing material, but not advertisements.
Michael Arrington, Talk Dirty to Me
There’s something dirty feeling about watching Michael Arrington’s interview of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. I don’t mean that as criticism of Michael; plenty of other folks have done that all too well. It’s this new media thing, where you sleep with the people you write about. You do business with them and for them.
Who am I to criticize? The new media thing is working out rather well for TechCrunch, which makes oodles of money, commands huge traffic and pageview numbers and mingles with Silicon Valley’s dealers and stealers.
Headline of the Day: ‘AT&T to Welcome iPhone Users to 2003 Tomorrow’
All Things Digital—and it’s an understatement. “At some point late tomorrow morning, the carrier will release an update enabling MMS,” he writes. About a minute later, AT&T’s network will go all to hell—it’s the end of the world as we know it—as iPhoners break out in one giant unison MMS.
Ah, the iPhone. A few weeks ago, I pronounced that my Nokia N97 is gone, it’s back again. I dumped the iPhone 3GS, and I’m surprised how little I miss the smartypants phone. Perhaps it was a psychological sense of missing out on something that caused the “disconnected” feeling using the N97 that I blogged about . No more.
What is Microsoft’s Search Engine?
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTbAvVYk9d0] That’s the question Todd Bishop (accompanied by John Cook) asked people on the streets of Seattle about six months ago. No one seemed to know what was Microsoft’s search engine (At that […]
My Run In With Fake Steve Jobs
It’s not the first encounter. But this time, I fought back. Last week, someone tweeted that I had been Fake Steved. Last week, at Betanews I blogged: “Why I chose Windows 7 Over Snow Leopard (and you should, too).”
For Fake Steve (aka, journalist Dan Lyons) that translated into post title: “Borg lapdog says you should choose Windows 7 over Snow Leopard.”
Bubbling Bing Soda Story is Flat
Microsoft employee evangelist Heather Hamilton is my darling today (Please don’t tell my wife!). She writes quite convincingly that “Sometimes, when something looks like a fizzy scoop, it totally isn’t.” Heather responds to a weird story circulating the blogs—soda cans marketing Bing to Microsoft employees. Anyone who works for Microsoft or has visited the campus should know there are fridges on every floor (or there sure seem to be) filled with soda and other beverages. Microsoft coolers pack a better selection than my local 7-Eleven, and for better price: Free. I’ve seen product branded cans in the coolers before, but hadn’t thought much of them. Branded gear of every shape and size can be found at most consumer companies.
Simply Great MSN.ca Ad
One of my favorite blogs is the Canadian Design Resource. I’m a sucker for good design, and I am pseudo Canadian. It’s one of the few blogs I really look forward to finding updates in my RSS feeds. Today, a post for MSN Canada caught my attention.