I got one of the Chromebook netbooks as part of their pilot program, but it’s value beyond being a web-browsing tool is kind of limited. This task is better accomplished via a Windows/Linux netbook or at the higher-end a iPad/Android tablet. This is one of those tech solutions in search of a problem. The problem does not really exist.

What is Microsoft doing? They’ve done a poor job lately integrating outside companies that they’ve purchased (eg. Sidekick) and they’ve stagnated as a company. They can always count on Windows and Office upgrades to keep them well stocked in cash, but their lack of innovation feels more like Detroit than what Redmond used to be.

One executive at a major publisher told me: “We shouldn’t be doing magazine apps. It’s a different format entirely from a print publication. We should be spending the resources to come up with special extensions of the brand.” The source added: “Consider the fact that iTunes doesn’t even have a dedicated ‘magazine section,’ so we’re effectively competing with Angry Birds and Flipboard at the same time.”

Here’s a hint.

Level 3 Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ: LVLT) today issued the following statement, which can be attributed to Thomas Stortz, Chief Legal Officer of Level 3:

“On November 19, 2010, Comcast informed Level 3 that, for the first time, it will demand a recurring fee from Level 3 to transmit Internet online movies and other content to Comcast’s customers who request such content. By taking this action, Comcast is effectively putting up a toll booth at the borders of its broadband Internet access network, enabling it to unilaterally decide how much to charge for content which competes with its own cable TV and Xfinity delivered content. This action by Comcast threatens the open Internet and is a clear abuse of the dominant control that Comcast exerts in broadband access markets as the nation’s largest cable provider.

“On November 22, after being informed by Comcast that its demand for payment was ‘take it or leave it,’ Level 3 agreed to the terms, under protest, in order to ensure customers did not experience any disruptions.

“Level 3 operates one of several broadband backbone networks, which are part of the Internet and which independent providers of online content use to transmit movies, sports, games and other entertainment to consumers. When a Comcast customer requests such content, for example an online movie or game, Level 3 transmits the content to Comcast for delivery to consumers.

This should also factor in to the Comcast-NBC merger which is just going to make the media-broadband world even worse.

Internet and telecom companies have been in trying to reach a compromise on the hot-button issue, first at the FCC over the summer and most recently with Congress. Under the arrangement shepherded b y Waxman, wireline networks would have been subject to net neutrality rules, meaning the biggest telecom companies would not be able to discriminate against any web traffic or content on their traditional wireline networks.

Wireless networks, however, would not have been subject to all of those non-discrimination requirements. The major telecom and Internet stakeholders, as well as several public interest groups, signed onto the deal, but Republicans on Capitol Hill refused to support the draft proposal, especially so close to the mid-term elections.

Here are the top singles. The Beatles are not even in the top 10, instead losing to such perrenial classics as Rihanna, the cast of Glee, and Trey Songz.

The Beatles do better in albums, but the highest selling collection is at #7. They are outsold by Keith Urban, Rihanna, and again the cast of Glee.

What does this mean? The Beatles probably waited way too long to license their music digitally, while their core audience is – frankly – dying off or already has this music on CD. Oh well.

Probably dating myself here, but the first time I realized I liked a Beatles song was this Nike commercial with “Revolution”:

Gladwell’s main point is that the dispersed nature of social networking can’t do social change because traditionally social change is hierarchical and social networking is a distributed network. But this is wrong. Contrary to the hype from social media gurus, social networking does have a hierarchy. Sure, it removes some of the barriers between people, but as it has matured, the medium does involve hierarchy and some semblance of command and control. My personal experience is largely with Twitter, though the same can often be said of Facebook and others (ditto for the blogosphere, where this argument existed a few years ago.) Over time, leaders do emerge. It isn’t a mesh network at all.

Things bubble over to real world via social networking when influencers push the influenced to do something. Social networks tend to magnify this, and the web does give some of us who would never be real-life leaders a way of having some sway. I find it odd that Gladwell misses this, because this is the whole point of his bestseller The Tipping Point.

I’ve no doubt that getting your followers to do something in the real world is more complicated than getting them to retweet or “Like” something, but I don’t think the barrier to doing that is social networking’s distributed nature but rather the intensity of the network following you. But this is the same as in the real world. Network leaders need to have leadership skills no matter the medium.

I’m not a social networking triumphalist by any stretch. For goodness sake I log into Facebook once every 2-3 weeks at best. But I don’t think a blanket dismissal is right either. It’s a tool that can work, but it needs human skill to make it effective.

Same as it ever was.

The FCC will not have rulemaking authority under a network neutrality bill that key House Democrats plan to introduce soon, according to a recent draft obtained by Tech Daily Dose.

Instead, the commission will deal with enforcement on a case-by-case basis. Broadband providers who violate the law will face a maximum penalty of $2 million by the FCC, under the bill.

The absence of the rulemaking authority, along with other provisions of the bill, is consistent with information reported by Tech Daily Dose last week.
The bill is a last-minute effort by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman to shepherd net neutrality legislation through the lower chamber before recess. Waxman hopes to advance the measure through the Senate during the lame-duck session after the November elections, according to an industry source.

So, so lame.

You don’t just win the White House and sit there guys. Do something.

It seems that after doing some initial work on these phones based around Danger’s proprietary Sidekick OS, Andy Lees — the SVP of Microsoft’s mobile division — instructed everyone to go back to the drawing board and rebuild the OS based on Windows CE. It appears the company didn’t want a project that wasn’t directly connected to its Windows kernel. This move allegedly set the release of the devices back 18 months, during which time Redmond’s carrier partner became increasingly frustrated with the delays. Apparently when it came time to actually bring the Kins to market, Big Red had soured on the deal altogether and was no longer planning to offer the bargain-basement pricing deals it first had tendered. The rest, as they say, is history — though we don’t think even great prices could have accounted for what was fundamentally a flawed product.

Microsoft is a schizo company but no division over there seems nuttier than the phone division. They had a leg up to market vs phone OSes like iPhone and Android, and pissed it away, then have (apparently) to throw that all out in favor of Windows Phone 7. And even worse, Kin had nothing to do with any of the rest of their phone “strategy.”

It’s a multibillion-dollar megacorp with the focus and loyalty of a fourteen year old kid.

I guess its some sort of tech industry law that when you get to the top of the mountain you have to be an absolute dick to everyone.

The Federal Trade Commission will open an investigation to determine if Apple Inc.’s mobile software business practices are squashing competitors, according to a report published Friday.

The Wall Street Journal said the FTC will start an investigation, citing people familiar with the situation. The newspaper said that the FTC has been working with the Justice Department for weeks to decide which agency will review allegations from companies complaining of being barred from the mobile platform that runs its iPhone and iPad devices.