Why?

Paul Kedrosky has an interesting post on the economics of blog M&A. Namely, there are none. That is, no one seems interested in buying big niche blogs like Kedrosky’s or big mainstream-ish blogs like TechCrunch.

Hard to value.
Hard to separate the property from the founder thereof. (What happens if she leaves?)
The popularity of a given blog “waxes and wanes.”

As for why no one has bought this particular blog, that’s easy. I can’t sell it. Offer me $1 million and Arsenal season tickets, however, and I will slavishly praise your every move.

These are very similar to the reasons given early on for not acquiring open-source projects. Too dependent on a given developer that might bolt. Too hard to value downloads. A given project’s popularity isn’t constant. Etc.

A few reasons are given at Breakingviews. They sound eerily similar to where the open source M&A market was a few years back:

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Panasonic will include a Micro Four Thirds lens adapter.

There are a couple potential downsides, however, when sizing up the G1 against dSLR competitors. Autofocus performance, for one. The G1 uses contrast AF, compared with phase-detect AF in dSLRs (though dSLRs with Live View generally use contrast AF in that mode). Contrast AF can be slower than phase detection, and not very efficient in low light, which is, well, low contrast. The G1 includes a Quick AF option, which doesn’t wait for you to press the shutter button before it starts focusing; if it’s like most continuous-focusing mechanisms, I suspect it will be a bit annoying.

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Unlike dSLRs, though, this one will come in colors: two-tone black and blue, and black and red, in addition to the more sedate solid black.

The G1 and its supporting accessories will be available in November. Though pricing has not yet been set, Panasonic says the G1 with the 15-45mm lens should cost less than $800.

In the few minutes I had to hold it, it felt very comfortable and well made, with a metal lens mount that you rarely find in the cheap dSLRs. Plus it’s definitely smaller than most dSLRs. Another big attraction will be the 3-inch, 460,000-dot flip-and-twist LCD. It will offer a full complement of manual and semimanual features as well as the automatic and semiautomatic capabilities common to all current Panasonic’s, like Intelligent Auto mode. There’s also a mode in which you can preview changes to settings like aperture and shutter speed, to gauge the effects in advance.

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(Credit:
Panasonic)

With the G1 specifically, and the Micro Four Thirds standard in general, Panasonic hopes to attract those users who want the advantages of interchangeable lenses and the power of a dSLR, but in a more compact camera. And to a certain extent, the G1’s specs read like those of an entry-level dSLR, including a 12-megapixel Live MOS chip with the same expanded photosite design of the sensor in the Lumix DMC-LX3) and continuous-shooting speed of 3fps for an unlimited number of JPEGs and seven raw.

While it’s too soon to tell whether it’ll be good, or popular, or both, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1 does seem to be one of the more interesting camera announcements this year–and that’s saying a lot, given how many innovative midrange and high-end dSLRs we’ve seen (and still have yet to see). The first non-dSLR camera to offer the flexibility of interchangeable lenses, at the very least the G1 promises to shake up the enthusiast compact market now dominated by models like the Canon PowerShot G9.

Another drawback is its lack of an optical viewfinder. The G1 uses an EVF; a very nice 1.4 million dot EVF with 100 percent scene coverage, but an EVF nonetheless. They usually black out or freeze just after shooting, which can definitely sully the dSLR-like experience you probably want to have with this camera. Also, no movie capture in the G1; Panasonic plans to ship a model with movie capabilities next year.

(Credit:
Panasonic)

At launch, Panasonic will offer two lenses for the G1, both with optical image stabilization: the Lumix G Vario f3.5-5.6 14-45mm (28-90mm equivalent) and the Lumix G Vario f4-5.6 45-200mm (90-400mm equivalent). Though Leica lenses are likely in the Micro Four Thirds future, these are Panasonic lenses. Panasonic will also offer a converter which will allow you to mount standard Four Thirds lenses on the G1, but AF will only function if the lenses support contrast AF.

Scanning over the Cnet News page, I ran across this series of photos:

Was Google’s Chrome logo inspired by some programmer’s childhood memories of playing with Simon?

According to Goldberg, sales of the game cards will be worth $75 million to $100 million this year with an expected run to $500 million by 2010. Interestingly enough, Target was the retailer that figured it out first and convinced Apple to offer iTunes cards.

GMG started in the marketing services working with retailers–specifically Target–but around the same time as that, well, it’s not very well known, but it’s Target who actually brought the idea of the pre-paid iTunes card to Apple and sold them on that.

The first iTunes cards were co-branded and were exclusive to Target. In terms of retailers in North America who were focused on pre-paid cards for digital entertainment, Target were ahead of the curve.

And why do retailers love these cards? The economics work in their favor.

Now, there’s an interesting fact about these cards. Retailers love them over any other product they have in their store, because the cards themselves don’t take up any inventory.

They’re not activated until they’re purchased, so they don’t sit on the balance sheet of the retailer. They feel like “free money” to retailers. So it’s a very positive business for retailers to get into, and it really lowers the bar for any retailers who are unsure about it, they don’t need to worry about losing money on it.

The really big untapped market for these digital media companies is gift giving. No matter how much someone loves an online world no one is going to say “hey, merry Christmas. I logged into your account and gave you 25 bucks.” Not to mention the impulse buy.

It’s a great interview if you have even a remote interest in virtual goods and gaming. It also shows that no matter how bad the economy is, someone will figure out how to make you spend your money.

JR East's Kiha E200 hybrid train

(Credit:
Sinobyte)

The train is a working prototype in use since July 2007 with the aim of gathering data for eventual mass production. Like a hybrid
car, the diesel-powered engine is used during acceleration and the electric motor kicks in to maintain speed while collecting energy during braking.

As you can see in this YouTube video, the ride is smooth and quiet, and each train also includes a data screen near the bathrooms (that I didn’t notice, since I’d gone at the station). The Koumi Line, according to the video caption (and Wikipedia Japan), is Japan’s highest altitude train line at 1,375 meters, and it has spectacular views of the southern mountain range on the main Japanese island of Honshu, including Mt. Fuji. Developing highly efficient train transport will turn green mass transit even greener. Let’s hope the test runs work out and other train companies get on board. Now, for the globally mobile, can I get a hybrid jumbo jet over here?

]]> http://www.mc-cf.org/2010/08/21/riding-the-worlds-first-hybrid-train-in-japan/feed/ http://www.mc-cf.org/2010/08/21/dell-to-cut-xps-gaming-desktops-embrace-alienware/ http://www.mc-cf.org/2010/08/21/dell-to-cut-xps-gaming-desktops-embrace-alienware/#comments Sat, 21 Aug 2010 08:18:22 +0000 admin http://www.mc-cf.org/?p=402 The new face of Dell gaming.

(Credit:
CNET)

The Wall Street Journal reported this morning on Dell’s plan to stop competing with itself. Rather than selling both high-end XPS gaming PCs as well as similar products from Alienware (which it acquired in 2006), Dell will shift all of its gaming energies at Alienware, including providing Dell R&D resources. As the Journal also noted, this shift will mirror the move that Hewlett-Packard made when it acquired Voodoo, although in that case HP immediately involved Voodoo in developing HP’s BlackBird 002. The Dell-Alienware relationship has seen each brand operate under its own silo, with little product development cooperation thus far.

We’re told that Q1 of next year is when we finally see the fruit of Dell and Alienware’s first full collaboration, so think CES 2009 or thereabouts. As for what happens with XPS, Dell told us that it will retain the brand as a luxury line, but it won’t be tailored to gaming. Its XPS One all-in-one desktop is a good example of what Dell has in mind for XPS moving forward.

Red Hat gets a lot of credit for being a pure-play open-source company, and rightly so. It’s therefore interesting to see the company releasing code that most people probably a) didn’t know existed and b) didn’t know was proprietary.

But so it is with the Red Hat Certificate System, which Red Hat acquired from AOL a few years back, and which Red Hat has now released under an open-source license. (Actually, it is released under several, given the different components in the Certificate System.) RHCS, now dubbed Dogtag, plays a useful role in securing systems.

Why didn’t Red Hat release this before? I have no idea. It demonstrates, however, that open sourcing technology is not trivial, even for companies like Red Hat and Sun Microsystems that are firmly committed to open source. Thought, code scrubbing, legal review, etc. are all required to fully open source code. It doesn’t happen overnight. For Red Hat, it took three years.

(Credit:
Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)

Yay! Apple’s iPhone
2.0.2 software update has fixed our broken iPhone 3G. Its endless loop of system restores is over, and it’s now back in working order.

Yet, that seems to be just about the only change from the update. Apple promised that 2.0.2 would bring “bug fixes” (and did it it ever) but the company hasn’t promised anything else. Like others I have noticed a slight improvement in the typing speed when using the keyboard, but that seems to be about it.

AppleInsider reported that in the music player the transition from list to Cover Flow mode has changed, but I’m not seeing a difference just yet. Perhaps, I’m looking in the wrong place, though, so if you find it please let me know. I haven’t seen a difference in 3G reception either, but (to be fair) there was never any promise that this update would fix that problem. Still, I maintain what I said earlier: Apple needs to acknowledge what’s going on.

Are you noticing other changes from the update? If so, please let me know.

Update: It appears Apple finally has acknowledged the 3G issue. On Tuesday the company told the Associated Press that the 2.0.2 update “improved communication with 3G networks.” Let me know if that’s the case for you.

Recently, we asked the question, “Is the Logitech Squeezebox Boom the ultimate Wi-Fi radio?” Now that we’ve had two full weeks to play with it, we have an answer: Yes, it pretty much is. The Boom is the first product in this category we can enthusiastically recommend. Like its predecessor, the Logitech Squeezebox Duet, the Boom’s garnered a CNET Editors’ Choice Award. Check out the links below for the full review, the updated CNET Wi-Fi radio roundup (which includes some lower priced alternatives), and the overall list of best network music players.

Read: Logitech Squeezebox Boom review

Read: Wi-Fi radio roundup

Read: Best network music players

Red Hat wasn’t impressed by Microsoft’s pledge to open up its APIs and protocols. This isn’t surprising. More surprising, however, is the EU’s dismissal of Microsoft’s announcement:

The commission would welcome any move towards genuine interoperability. Nonetheless, the commission notes that today’s announcement follows at least four similar statements by Microsoft in the past on the importance of interoperability.

The devil is always in the details, but it is the European Commission and the open-source community pushes Microsoft to live up to its pledge that it will do so…kicking and screaming at times, no doubt. Still, I’m cautiously optimistic that it can be prodded toward that end (and that there are people within Microsoft who would love to get there sooner rather than later).