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Weekly Blueliner NewsminerAugust 20, 2010 – 5:01 pm |
 Abdul Fattah Ismail |
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Good afternoon. Welcome to the Weekly Blueliner Newsminer. One topic surfaced this week that may become a watershed moment in interactive media, while one CEO gave a candid discussion on the present and future.
1. Facebook Places Is On The Corner
I discussed my viewpoint of the social network giant’s foray into the geolocation sector, and it can be found here. The potential for revenue on many levels is startling, and will probably jeopardize the future of smaller specialized sites such as Craigslist, amongst others. Facebook users should also be aware of their privacy settings, as one reporter from The Huffington Post details here.
2. Google CEO Eric Schmidt Interview
In the WSJ, the Google executive shares some candid insight on current topics ranging from net neutrality, the future of privacy, and ongoing battles with tech rivals like Oracle. His responses seem to belie the nefarious criticism from many in the cyberworld. But alas, it’s only an interview.
3. Intel purchases McAfee for $7.7 billion
Intel made this striking purchase earlier in the week with the vision of leading the market in smart chip security as content travels through multichannels and various platforms. Marketing executives found the purchase strange on many levels, and I don’t know how it fits either. I know that Intel has made some strong advertising campaigns for decades now, and generates revenue through their hardware chips in every PC. I just never once thought them as a player on the consumer technology front, like Apple or even Microsoft. When was the last time you visited J&R for Intel chips? Unless you are a tech manager? The future could make this deal seem prescient, but right now, hmm…
4. Textbooks Get Interactive In Time for the Academic Year
The iPad is starting to get universities to embrace digital textbooks by debuting an application today selling McGraw-Hill best sellers in various disciplines at $2.99 per chapter and $69.99 for the entire textbook. The price for the entire text will be raised to $84.99 soon thereafter. The article notes that one university in Pennsylvania is passing out close to 2,000 iPads for students. I think that despite the explosion of e-titles over the past year, parents will be hard-pressed to spend an additional $500 on a device which holds few titles that fit schedule needs. Kindle, inversely, has stepped up their hardware with the iPad’s challenge. It, however, lacks the graphical capability that professors would want for more visually dependent interaction. I think a sea tide will follow when tablets gain traction, but not right now.
5. Apple To Close Quattro Wireless
Apple’s decision to close Quattro was expected for awhile, as the head of Quattro joined the iAd Development staff sometime back. This will help clarify Apple’s strategic initiative into mobile advertising, which remains murky on an industry level at best. I discuss my thoughts in more detail here, and along with Intel’s purchase of McAfee, the mobile industry is taking shape by the day.
That’s the Blue News this week. Until next time.
