Colin's Corner

Apple drives PodCasting

In addition to the release of new color iPods Apple is pushing Podcasting mainstream with the release of iTunes 4.9 (which also appears to support the upcoming Apple/Motorola phone). Apple also announced the availability of 3,000 Podcasts via the iTunes Music Store. The specifications for Podcasts can be found here although some are complaining about Apple's implementation.

Playlist covers Apple's iPod and iTunes announcements plus a detailed review of iTunes 4.9

TNS predicts 7.6% rise in 2005 online ads

Advertising spending will hit $145.3 billion this year, according to a TNS Media Intelligence forecast presented at the annual AdWatch conference in Manhattan this morning. Traditionally TNS's forecasts tend to be conservation relative to most others in the market.

The majority of media would see growth, with cable TV and Hispanic media more robust at 11.6% and 10.5%, respectively. Internet will be up 7.6% -- a healthy number but not quite the double-digit growth the medium saw the last two years. Magazines would be up 7.5% and outdoor would rise 5.5%. Newspapers were expected to see moderate 3.8% growth, syndication a 3.3% increase and network TV would grow 1.1%.

Populism does not equal engagement

Steve Yelvington sums up the LA Times' failed experiment with an editorial wiki. He specifically mentions Greg Brooks very perceptive comments on Slashdot

" Their [LA Times] error lies in assuming blogs = populism, so Successful New Newspapering(tm) must = more populism, too. That's just not the case; Successful New Newspapering doesn't mean more populism as much as it means more engagement.

LA Times editors: Go ahead and own your editorial page -- it's your paper, and you already do a great job of having diverse voices from the community offer up commentary. The newspaper's editorial is the one place you currently allow the organization to have a subjective voice -- don't throw that away."

However, consider this: Use some of the vast resources of your parent company to offer free, idiot-proof blog space to your subscribers. Go ahead and sell ads, but also allow every blogger to stick in a Google AdSense banner if they want to, and let them keep anything they earn. Throw promotions, offer prizes, discount the subscription price if someone starts a blog -- do whatever you have to do to build a base of subscribers who are also bloggers.

Still with me? Good. Now: Every one of those bloggers should be subject to a limited Creative Commons License allowing you to: a.) publish URLs of interesting content your editors find; and b.) Excerpt content for use in the print edition.

You've just done several things: You've created an online advertising vehicle that requires less effort to sell (assuming you use pay-per-click as your model). Most newspapers try to sell ads into their online sites and most generate negative or near-negative returns on those sales. You've created a deep content pool. Armed with only a few editors, you can pull together a weekly section that would be, I believe, the best read in the paper after six months. Why? Because the voices would be genuine, unprofessional, opinionated and resonant with readers. Will you have to do some editing and fact checking? Yes, but that's light labor compared to pulling together a regular section. Oh, and give thought to doing a daily column of excerpts as well.... and... wait for it... you've creatied the basis for a new town square, with your paper as the foundation. Spirited dialogue, opinions everywhere and a lot of cross-chatter. Which is just as it should be.

Google Wallet

The web is buzzing with rumors that Google plans to launch Google Wallet The story broken by the WSJ and Reuters

"....the Google Wallet may provide the Mountain View search giant with extra strategic marketing and business information related to how its present advertising customers would be spending their money. Google might in fact be able to start tracking and monitoring how those Web users who click on Google-managed ads go about spending their money and whether or not they spend it on the products and services offered by those very same advertisers."

In other Google news Dave Winer reports on a rumor that Google is readying an iTunes-clone, based on RSS 2.0, and fully podcast-capable.

Yahoo! Launches Search Subscription Service

Yahoo! Inc., today announced the beta launch of Yahoo! Search Subscriptions  a service that enables users to search multiple online subscription content sources and the Web from a single search box. Subscription content includes for-pay news and reference Web sites. Yahoo! Search is claimed to be the first major search engine to offer the ability to search for personal subscription content found in the "deep web." The deep web includes millions of access-restricted Web sites containing content that search engines typically cannot access. The service is initially available in the U.S. and the UK.

You still however need a valid subscription to access the content.

SEARCH engines are so powerful. And they are so pathetically weak.

An article in the NY Times points out weakness in Google search and looks at a number of alternatives.

When it comes to digging up a specific name, date, phrase or price, search engines are unstoppable.Yet for anything but simple keyword queries, even the best search engines are surprisingly ineffective.

Legal Guide For Bloggers

The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently issued a Legal Guide for Bloggers. The site notes:

"this guide isn't a substitute for, nor does it constitute, legal advice. Only an attorney who knows the details of your particular situation can provide the kind of advice you need if you're being threatened with a lawsuit. The goal here is to give you a basic roadmap to the legal issues you may confront as a blogger, to let you know you have rights, and to encourage you to blog freely with the knowledge that your legitimate speech is protected".

Alternative to Google's Adwords

As noted by The Editor and Publisher, Newsday, a Tribune Co. newspaper, has launched its own ad serving program called Pay-Per-Click. The service utilizes the Quigo AdSonar software. 

The Newsday deal is in addition to several publishers already private labeling the Quigo AdSonar cost-per-click software, including  iExplore.com, USATODAY.com, DenverPost.com,  RockyMountianNews.com, www.theknot.com.

Rather than split contextual advertising revenue with Google or another third-party provider, publishers can use the AdSonar software to have a direct relationship with their advertisers.

Apple's multi core strategy

The speculation, confirmed by the Wall Street Journal, that Apple is moving to Intel chip technology has put the Mac industry in a frenzy all week-end. However getting past the hysteria, paranoia and exuberance as well as the contention from some that it is totally unfounded speculation, the strategy is starting to make sense. The Intel Roadmap for both notebooks and desktops, together with some of the DRM security issues that appears to be built into the next generation of chips presented Apple with a real dilema if they were to stick with IBM / Freescale. As technology moves to dual core, in order to maximize the advantages that chips such as the Pentium D offers applications will have to be completely rewritten. So why not start now ? What's exciting is the new applications we will see in the future not the applications of the past.

Steve and his team have glimpsed the future and it is not IBM with their current track record. This bold visionary move is about taking the best chip roadmap currently out there and marrying it with with the best commercial OS (MacOSX) and building a future platform for notebooks, desktops and new mobile devices. Also, with this move Apple can use the competition between AMD and Intel in the years ahead to choose the best available future technologies. The delays in Longhorn, the general concern about security viruses, spyware and malware make the timing of such an announcement ideal.

Wired's Leander Kahney adds to the discussion by noting it's really about Hollywood and also discusses the universal emulator from Transitive.

I'm with those who see this as one of the most exciting opportunities ever to hit the Mac platform and the PC industry and look forward to many more details emerging over the next few days.

Tags: Apple, Intel, OSX, WWDC, Mac, Digg/Apple

Intel inside Apple

In a move that some will see as sticking a stick of dynamite in one of the orifices of the PC chip industry ZDNet and CNET are suggesting a wholesale move by Apple to “ditch”  IBM and move to Intel technology. This rumor has being doing the circuit over the last few weeks. It was interesting that Walt Mossberg did not drill Steve Jobs on the issue when he had the interview opportunity at D3. Maybe he did not want to steal the WSJ scoop and follow-up article. The WSJ now has run another article essentially confirming the CNET story.

Harry McCracken, PCWorld’s Editor in Chief offers a perspective and Macworld UK has a rumor summary. I’ve lived in the Mac industry for nearly 20 years and while nothing from Apple would surprise me, the story as currently presented just does not feel quite right. However, Apple has managed two transitions in the past, Lisa to Mac and 680x0 to PowerPC.  Also the NeXT OS ran on multiple platforms. Rumors have circulated for years about Apple running the MacOS on the Intel platform. Using a Fat Binaries type approach to compile apps for different chip architectures is possible and maybe Apple is considering a dual boot strategy where both the Mac (Apple OS) and Windows could launch.

With delays in Microsoft's Longhorn and continued user dissatisfaction with lack of security, viruses, spyware and malware on the WinTel platform - maybe market conditions are now right for such a bold move. There are many opportunities for Apple to use Intel technologies, especially in the mobile markets and high-end graphic space with nVidia. Rumors of tablets and other mobile devices have been around for a while. This wild speculation however does support the unmistakable trend towards various forms of mobile devices.

Do I see Apple making aggressive moves in the handheld, laptop and mobile space, utilizing the latest wireless technologies ? Absolutely. The delays in the G5 for new portables could be a major factor in Apple considering a switch to Intel

Do I see Apple spending that much time and effort on moving legacy desktop applications to an Intel x86 platform with all the issues it brings– sorry, but I remain extremely skeptical. Of course, just because Apple is working with Intel, it does not necessarily mean the collaboration is on x86 technology.  Legacy applications such as those from Adobe and Microsoft are unlikely to move across, instead the focus will be on new applications.

I believe such a move could be a long-term nail in the coffin for the Mac consumer desktop market. The Mac Mini and G5 iMac – while great products could  become niche or used to test parts of the transition. Apple's long-term focus will be on laptops and mobile devices.

Anyway, all will be revealed (or not) at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference in San Francisco on Monday when Steve Jobs delivers a keynote address. I will listen with interest to see if Steve uses this opportunity to change the name from the MacOS to the AppleOS or sticks with the massive brand equity that exists with Mac.

Stay tuned. Never a dull moment with Apple.         
Tags: Apple, Intel, Mac, Macintosh