Tech Blog

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Google
Killing Newspapers?
The next round in the Big Media vs Google duel ensues -- customers are worthless when delivered by Google? Big Media seems to think so:

...the latest spin seems to be how “worthless” the traffic is that Google sends. In reality, the traffic probably does have value, but the newspapers are likely doing a terrible job of monetizing it.

Google Wave survey says
"It's a cool concept, but we need more people using it to tell if it'll work for us" seems to be the results of this survey run by the Wave folk:

Since we can't talk to all of our users individually (no matter how hard we try!), we've been running an online survey to get some feedback on the Google Wave experience. We distributed the survey through email (to a random sample of those that volunteered to help), a link in our help center and a tweet. While this may not be a completely representative sample of all Google Wave users, the results have been interesting to us, and we'd like to share them. Here's a quick overview of what Wavers have said so far.

Social Media
In The Age Of Realtime, Twitter Is Walter Cronkite
Is a great read on the changing face of news with tools like Twitter in the mix:

We’re entering a new age of realtime information. Some people don’t like that because they fear inaccurate reports. They’ll cite the Balloon Boy example as how things get out of control on services like Twitter. Well you know where the Balloon Boy reports were way more out of control? On CNN and the other cable news channels. And you know where I first heard sound arguments that there is no way that balloon could hold a full-grown child? Twitter.

Apple
Your warranty could be void if you smoke near your Apple
Consumerist had this to say about that:

Two readers in different parts of the country claim that their Applecare warranties were voided due to secondhand smoke. Both readers appealed their cases up to the office of God Steve Jobs himself. Both lost.

Microsoft
Window's 7 is still in diapers and Windows 8 is being conceived

 Are Technica has this breakdown of Microsoft's upcoming development and release timeline:

Microsoft said that starting with Windows 7, the company would work really hard to follow a three-year release cycle. Windows 7 was released on October 22, 2009, so it makes sense that Windows 8 will get here in 2012

Interesting Net Tech, Apps & Software

• Gowalla, a Foursquare competitor, gets more interesting - and I can finally get it from the App store in Canada. Will it run? We'll see. TechCrunch outlines the improvements:
  Now, when you click on a venue, and click on the people tab for it, you can see a list of the top 10 people for that location. This is a list of the users who have checked into that venue the most amount of times over the past 90 days. In Foursquare terms, the top person would be the “mayor,” but again, this is a full top 10 list so more than just the top dog gets recognition.
• American Thanksgiving prompted Lifehacker to post this awesome list of 61 Free Apps We're Most Thankful For - the must-have apps to round out any data device.
• The coolest find of the week -- John's Background Switcher. I know, it's a kinda boring name, but it's a awesome desktop wallpaper manager that connects to many online wallpaper sources, and even manages logins. Windows.
  
  

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Your Turn
So, did I miss anything? What online story really got you going this week? Link to it in the comments!

Message Edited by bgrier on 11-28-2009 08:45 AM