Based on this rather self-explanatory tweet from the corporate Radio Shack account, it looks like you'll have an extra place to check for an iPhone 4 in case your local Apple, Best Buy, or AT&T stores are sold out: More »



RadioShack - IPhone - Apple - Handhelds - Smartphones

How Twitpic Face Tagging Does & Does Not Work (Yet) —

Any of Facebook's over 400 million users will immediately recognize some new features on popular Twitter photo-sharing service Twitpic today as users can now tag people in their photos. In an blog post this morning, the two-year-old company announced it had passed the 10 million user mark that it sees 40 million unique visitors each month. The company says they are releasing their Face Tagging functionality "to show [their] thanks" to the community, but could it bring headaches and worries with it too?

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How It Works

Face Tagging literally works exactly like tagging photos on Facebook. While viewing a picture, the text "In this photo:" is displayed below it with a link to begin tagging the photo. By clicking the link, users can then pinpoint people's faces in the photo and a box will appear around the face, as well as a pop-up dialogue box in which to enter the person's name and Twitter handle. Once done, users hit the "Done Tagging" button to return to normal browsing functionality - just like Facebook.

Honestly, the only difference between tagging photos on Facebook and on Twitpic is that the "Done Tagging" button appears above photos on the former and below photos on the latter. While Twitpic's new functionality is a dead lift of Facebook's long-existing photo tagging feature, it is smart to copy the social networking giant. Why re-invent the wheel? Instead, Twitpic is giving users a familiar experience, making the process easy and intuitive.

How It Doesn't Work

When users tag a face in a photo, by default they can send a rather dry tweet announcing the tag and including the user name of the person tagged, effectively working as a notification. First of all, the inability to personalize this message is a bit of a downer, but you can always just uncheck the box and send out the tweet yourself. Secondly, by default it does this every time you tag a person in a photo. You thought Facebook notifications were bad? Just wait until someone tags a photo with ten people and unwittingly tweets the photo out ten times.

Additionally, the only way Twitpic alerts users that they have been tagged in a photo is via Twitter - so users could be tagged in hundreds of photos and not know it if the tagger chose not to tweet the tags. Users do have the ability to delete tags of themselves on other people's photos, but right now the only way of knowing of such photos is to be sent the tweet, which not everyone will choose to do.

In a phone interview today, Twitpic founder Noah Everett told ReadWriteWeb that additional features, like the ability to view photos you're tagged in, are in the works and should be out in a few weeks. The goal, he says, has been to launch the tagging feature and use user feedback to determine the next logical step.

What About Privacy?

That next logical step, for many users, may be privacy controls - something the new feature lacks. On Facebook, users have the ability to manage photos they have been tagged in and remove their association from a photo once-and-for-all. The only option related to photo tags for Twitpic users is the option to allow other people to tag their photos. Everett says they are looking into possible privacy controls, such as a blanket rule preventing anyone from tagging you, or specific user-based bans to avoid those "crazy ex-girlfriends", as he put it.

Personally, I use Twitpic mainly as a means to an end - I upload photos to the service for sharing on Twitter via a mobile application, which means I don't visit the Twitpic web interface too frequently. How am I supposed to know when I'm tagged in a photo if the user tagging me chooses not to tweet it? Even if I visit the Twitpic homepage, there is no way for me to view an aggregated list of photos I am tagged in and no system for notifying me of such photos.

Everett says they are looking into ways of notifying users, including email alterts, but hopes that eventually app developers will add the functionality using Twitpic's API. I guess the good thing is if someone decides to surreptitiously tag me in a photo, for now the general public has no real great way of finding it either.

An Impending Headache for Data Fans?

The other important thing to note from the launch of Twitpic's Face Tagging functionality is that it is a new stand-alone platform for a third-party application to another service. What that jumble of words means is that when other Twitter-based photo sharing apps add this functionality, it will be nearly impossible for users to effectively aggregate their tagged photos (and other meta-data) across platforms. With the low barrier of entry to Twitter applications, it seems likely that Twitpic's competitors would adopt similar features to keep up.

I spoke with Thomas Vander Wal, father of the phrase "folksonomy" which refers to collective tagging of meta-data, and he shared some interesting insights into this situation.

"Since others have done similar things on other platforms (Facebook, Flickr) the [intellectual property] is fuzzy and Twitpic can't claim it, so others are free to jump in," Vander Wal told ReadWriteWeb. "It would be in Twitter's best interest to build a central aggregation point for this."

This is exactly why Twitter is rolling out annotations, which have been testing recently and should be out soon. The annotations will create a standardized framework for third-party apps to build from, making interoperability between services much easier. Everett said he actually spoke with people from Twitter today about "coming together" and "rolling [tagging functionality] into annotations."

Strangely, however, Twitter mentioned in April that they planned on having "trending annotations" and letting developers battle for standardization. It would make sense that meta-data for tagged photos could be added to Twitter's annotations, and if the services adopted the standard, aggregation would be simple.

If not, then the entrepreneurial community, "somebody like PixelPipe" as Vander Wal suggested, would need to create another third-party Twitter service that would handle this aggregation - not an ideal solution going forward. We can't blame Twitpic for this fate: what they're doing is good in terms of pushing the platform forward. We can, however, bring up the privacy issues they've have raised with their new service and its apparent lack of controls, but then again, it is a brand new feature and more functionality is on the way soon.

Tagging photo courtesy of the LA Times

Discuss

Weekly Search & Social News: 06/08/2010 —

Testing 1-2-3 is this thing on?? It’s time for another edition with ‘7 Days of Search and Social‘ – it was a great week out there last week my friend. There were lots of great posts, videos and of course my fav, patents (Google at least) to keep this geek going. I should also note that this week’s offering is ‘Drama Free’ which is great too (Less Drama – More Geeking). I hope things are well on your end and that you find at least a little sumpn’ sump’ from this weeks offering (ya better, plenty in there).

And away….

Lead Story

You can’t handle the links!

To get things rolling this week I thought that I’d highlight an interesting discussion about how contextual links, as opposed to links at the end, in a post affect the usability of an article. The original report stated that they are a distraction that takes away from the focus of the piece.

Some details;

• Can You Handle On Page Links?
• Are In-Content Links Destroying Our Ability To Think?
• Are Links A Distraction?

Me? I am with (link goddess) Debra on this one. I personally think that the in context links are fine, I actually prefer them. I mean, as one person said, “it’s HTTP… as in HYPER TEXT”. It’s part of the cornerstones of the web. Duh. Anyway, read the posts and decide for yourself.

Away we go….

Quick Nav Links – Talk of the Town – Geek Central – Social Search – Going Vertical – Videos – Tools – Patents -

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Talk of the Town 

Why Link Builders Don’t Share Their Top Secret Strategies – was an interesting post that had me thinking about how so many still look for magical link building (aka lazy). Is it just me or are there not better ways (content strategy + syndication + outreach) to getting the job done? Huh… There’s No Such Thing As Advanced Link Building - Deb is everywhere this week. This one is a nice follow up to the above and likely more in-line with my thinking. Then again, Debra is a content centric linker, so I would fall in line easier with her thinkng. Wrong Page Ranking in the Results? 6 Common Causes & 5 Solutions – this is a good one for such situations. Well done and worth reading, another tool in the box. It Isn’t Good Content Unless it’s SEO’d Content – this post really does speak to the core of SEO – the point of it all. That we’re here to better enable the findability of the content on a website. Nice work from Stoney. State of UK Search: Guava and Econsultancy Launch 4th Annual Report – Nichola has a nice overview of the recent report out from Econsultancy. Interesting data for the management types. Google (SEO) Organic CTR Segmented by brand, Product and location – while this one seemed to fly under the radar last week, it is certainly a well put together bit of research for those in the ecom world. Newbie SEO Part 1: Google Analytics Custom Reports for SEO – I promoted this one from the Tools section as I am a big proponent of having good analytic chops for your SEO. If you’re still not ramped up, this post is a great place to start. SEO Advice: Make a web page for each store location – Matt Cutts had a post that is some interesting advice for those working with multiple location and geo-local with their SEO efforts. How to Create World Link Maps With Majestic SEO & Google Spreadsheets – what can I say? Wiep never fails to offer great stuff when he gets down to it. Lesson; don’t just blog for the sake of doing it, have a purpose. Find A Mentor (Or Some Mentos) – not entirely SEO related nor geeky, but there are a few folks on the list that have helped or influenced me over the years. So it makes the list. We really do need more mentors these days. When Google Bans Its Own Discussion Group – and last but not least comes from the irony file. It is fun when Google smacks itself down (get yer head outta’ the gutter). Hacking is NOT black hat SEO dumbass – it seems there are some folks in the security world that equate black hat SEO with hacking. Misguided or playing the FUD card? You decide… The reasonable surfer; makes for unreasonable thinkers – another rant against those that would take each patent filing that comes out and treat it as gospel (from yours truly) and a lesson in how to assess patents.

Quick Nav Links – Talk of the Town – Geek Central – Social Search – Going Vertical – Videos – Tools – Patents -

Search Geek Central

Tech Stuff How a Search Engine Might Rerank Search Results Based upon Time-Based Data in Query Logs – SEO by the Sea More about generic TLDs in (say) UK results – Matt Cutts No Title Tag? Google May Use Text From Next "Large Font" – Search Engine Roundtable USPTO Teams with Google to Provide Bulk Patent and Trademark Data to the Public – USPTO Website How Google Might Suggest Topics for You to Write About – SEO by the Sea Google & Site performance: The compilation answer album – Maile Ohye

Social Search Google I/O 2010 – The open & social web (video) – Google Twitter Annotations Testing Starts Next Week Through The Streaming API – TechCrunch

Going Vertical Video SEO: Promotion in the Age of Social Sharing – Fire Horse Trail Why Local SEO is Harder Than SEOs Think – Small Business SEM Video – Is it the key to online conversion? – Search Agents Foursquare Specials: Which One Is Right For Your Business? – SEO.com Online Video Is Really The Next Big Thing [Study] – Search Engine Watch Quick Nav Links – Talk of the Town – Geek Central – Social Search – Going Vertical – Videos – Tools – Patents

Videos Google I/O 2010 – Measure in milliseconds: Meet Speed Tracer Google I/O 2010 – Architecting for performance with GWT Google I/O 2010 – Make your app real-time with PubSubHubbub Google I/O 2010 – The open & social web Funny Talk: 5 Comedy Sketches about Language- AltaLang Google PageRank Update, Yahoo Unstable, Facebook Ranked One & Memorial Day – SER Cutt’s Corner Is there such a thing as building too many links? Why doesn’t Webmaster Tools have multiple-country targeting?, YouTube

Weapons WordTracker Partners With Majestic SEO To Create Link Building Intelligence Tool – SEW Keyword List Comparison Tool – SEO Book Feature Friday: Google Analytics Integration into PDF Rank Trending Reports – Raven SEO

Quick Nav Links – Talk of the Town – Geek Central – Social Search – Going Vertical – Videos – Tools – Patents -

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Search Patents

Google System for automatically integrating a digital map system Accelerated large scale optimization Systems and methods for providing searchable prior history Open profile content identification Enhanced Search Results (Maps) Identifying inadequate search content System and Method for Translating Timed Text in Web Video

Microsoft Query comprehensions

Yahoo System for classifying words

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/end SOSG session

Quick Nav Links – Talk of the Town – Geek Central – Social Search – Going Vertical – Videos – Tools – Patents -

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

Weekly Search & Social News: 06/08/2010

Thoughts on the new iPhone and AT&T —

Shared by louisgray
TUAW says: "Even worse, as time goes by it's very clear that AT&T continues to hold the iPhone experience hostage. From killing FaceTime on 3G, to dropped calls, to spotty reception in big cities: AT&T just isn't ready for the iPhone"

Filed under: iPhone

iPhone 4 is a desirable and powerful update to the iPhone that we know and love, but as is always the case with Apple, there are some downers.

Off the top of my head, here's what I think is disappointing. I'm surprised 32GB is the top memory tier; I think a lot of us expected 64GB. You have been able to get that amount of memory in the iPod touch since September of 2009. Bummer.

FaceTime video chat is a great idea and everyone expected it was coming. Once again though, Apple is being held back by AT&T. To do video chat, you have to be WiFi to WiFi. How usable is that? Not very. Apple hinted that it will work over 3G, maybe next year, but we know how good AT&T is at meeting deadlines.

Read on for more...

TUAWThoughts on the new iPhone and AT&T originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Tue, 08 Jun 2010 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Shared by louisgray
Quote: "Do I think the iPhone 4 is sexy? Absolutely yes. It has so many things going for it but AT&T’s shoddy network is holding it back." YUP.

Hot on the heels of my quick review of the Sprint HTC EVO 4G, I’d like to take a minute to share my thoughts on the latest iPhone announced at WWDC today here in San Francisco. There seems to be two camps when it comes to the iPhone 4 — those that love it and those that hate it. Actually, it is more like three; love, hate and those that aren’t exactly sold on it but will buy it anyway. I have been onboard with the last 3 iPhones and waited in long lines on launch day to get most of them. However, I won’t be getting the iPhone 4 this time around.

If you’re just catching up with all the news today, below is a quick summary of what was announced. If you want juicier details head over to Engadget, Mashable, ArsTechnica, et cetera.

• iPhone 4 comes in 16GB and 32GB flavors in white and black. Priced at $199 and $299 respectively. AT&T only.
• Lots of emphasis on new 960×640 IPS LCD display: 800:1 contrast ratio and 326ppi. Dubbed “retina” display for clever metaphor that human eye can’t see individual pixels so tightly packed together. Display is still familiar 3.5-inch size. For comparison, the massive 4.3-inch display on the HTC EVO 4G only packs in 800×480 resolution.
• Processor is 1GHz A4 chip which makes room for a larger battery: 40% increase in talk time. Am I the only one that thinks modern smartphones should no longer be judged on this talk time metric? Talking on a smartphone is only a small percentage of what many use their smartphones for now.
• No 4G or LTE… which is why the iPhone is called 4 and not 4G. Many people would confused the 4G moniker for 4G cellular wireless standards-based technology, not fourth generation iPhone. While there is no 4G, Apple packed in Quad-Band HDSPA/HSUPA data modems.
• Three-axis gyroscope.. most important for new games. If only Apple spent less time on hardware sensors for gaming and more time on utility. The iPhone still doesn’t come with a turn-by-turn navigation app. Google Maps Navigation is great on Android phones.
• Dual cameras – VGA on front, autofocus 5MP with single LED flash on rear. Rear camera records 720p HD at 30fps (Compare to only 25fps 720 on EVO 4G). Rear lens is slightly more wide-angle than the iPhone 3GS’s lens. Photos appear to be good but won’t know for sure until the reviews emerge. iMovie app announced for $5.
• iBooks coming to iPhone; supports PDFs
• Wi-Fi now supports up to 802.11n
• better Enterprise support: data protection, device management, wireless app distribution, SSL VPN, multiple Exchange accounts, support for Exchange 2010
• iPhone OS 4 now called iOS4, launches June 21st. Big feature: multitasking “done right.” Notable: unified inbox with message threading
• FaceTime – “open” standard video chat for iPhone, with zero config necessary for iPhone 4 to iPhone 4 calls. Only on Wi-Fi at the moment

The hardware looks rather spiffy for the most part — great display, dual cameras, faster processor, better battery life… sounds like what dreams are made of. But I don’t think I can stand being with AT&T for another year. I had 107 dropped calls in the last 270 days with AT&T. Considering I don’t talk on the phone every day, that effectively means I have dealt with a dropped call once per call session.

WTF!

I have only been okay with AT&T for the last year with my MicroCell but now that I have moved to San Francisco and explored it I just can’t stay on this network any longer. AT&T service especially sucks in San Francisco. Even times when I do have a few bars, it is deathly slow.

Colin Ake’s post summarized most of my thoughts on the iPhone 4 announcement:

Yes, iPhone 4 looks nice. Nice screen, dual cameras, HD video, I get it. [...] And you didn’t even throw us the bone of getting rid of AT&T or upgrading to LTE.

And it’s not like there are better options. Sure, I could go with the EVO 4G. Then I’d have fast connectivity, right?! Right! Unless you’re in a building! I mean, seriously, go look at the Clear reviews and see how sporadic it is and how much it sucks. [...]

So here’s the recap. There’s a huge market for a phone that does all that, is on a platform that’ll upgrade easily and have a seamless UI and uses a real network like Verizon.

Verdict

Do I think the iPhone 4 is sexy? Absolutely yes. It has so many things going for it but AT&T’s shoddy network is holding it back. There are blocks in my neighborhood where I get absolutely no service at all and it’s not like there are tall buildings surrounding me like in the Financial District, where horrible service is at least somewhat justifiable. How am I supposed to partake in all of the cool features of the iPhone 4 when I don’t have access to the Internet when I’m out and about. This is a mobile phone — requiring me to stay within earshot of my MicroCell or a Wi-Fi access point is like selling me a ball and chain (or if you prefer this metaphor: a supercar with a high-compression engine that requires 110 Octane gas when I can only find 91 Octane here in California, aside from being trackside at Infineon).

So what phone will I end up with? I’m not sure if I want the EVO 4G, but I know my next device will be Android-based. I think I’ll wait until the next big Android hyperphone gets announced later this summer and then I’m off to Verizon or Sprint. Oh and I almost forgot why I love Android so much — native Google Voice integration. This is a really, really big deal for me.

Thoughts? Will you be pre-ordering your iPhone 4 on June 15th and waiting hours for it on launch day? Will you pick one at your leisure later this summer, or at all? What is your current phone and provider?

Unrelated: on the upshot, I think the Reader feature in Safari 5 is fantastic. Granted Chrome has been my primary browser for several months now, I might end up doing my reading within the confines of Safari 5. I’m also curious to see what happens with Safari Extensions. Panic showed off how easy it was for them to add a new feature to Safari with their extension.

RSS ads (for the student loans, I promise!): PaulStamatiou.com runs the Thesis theme. View my usenet downloading how to then checkout my usenet host Giganews.

Why the Apple iPhone 4 Isn’t for Me

© Paul Stamatiou 2005-2010

People: Steve Jobs

Related posts:

1. Review: Apple iPhone 3G
2. Pictures: How I Got My Apple iPhone 3G
3. Apple’s iPhone 3G USB Charger Recall: FAIL
4. Jailbreak Your iPhone with One Touch
5. Begin Developing for the iPhone with iPhoney
6. So I Got an iPhone

Today I was listening not to what Steve Jobs said, but what he didn’t say.

There were two things that stood out in my mind.

1. I didn’t remember him talking about the Macintosh. I might have missed it, but I don’t think so.
2. I didn’t remember him talking about tethering.
3. I didn’t remember him talking about Apple TV.
4. I didn’t remember him talking about other carriers other than AT&T.

Why not? Well, that’s for the pundits to guess.

Me? When Steve Jobs doesn’t say something he knows he doesn’t have a good story. Is Apple moving away from the Macintosh? Is it fighting with AT&T about tethering? Is the hobby project of Apple TV struggling? These are all questions that are raised by what Steve Jobs didn’t say.

What about you? Did you pick up on anything else Steve Jobs didn’t say?

Facebook has a new feature! (gasp) And this time it’s for all of us digital marketers out there utilizing Facebook Advertising.  The new feature, which is still in Beta, allows you to know if the really expensive Facebook traffic you paid for actually converts.

The implementation is simple, and if you’ve already set up your Google AdWords for conversion tracking (and you should!) then it’ll look familiar:

<script src=”//ah8.facebook.com/js/conversions/tracking.js”></script><script type=”text/javascript”>
try {
FB.Insights.impression({
‘id’ : 123456789,
‘h’ : ‘abc123abc123′
});
} catch (e) {}
</script>

This will enable you to track contact conversions within the Facebook interface.  Even if you have your web analytics set up to track Facebook conversions this will put the information all in one place and save time on report generation.

There is also a handy guide to using Facebook Conversion Tracking.  They’ve done a great job detailing just about everything- except a pesky thing called a “Conversion Rate.”  (Oh boy!)

Facebook & Conversion Rate

A conversion rate can really look at any two factors, depending on what KIND of conversion you’re tracking.  It’s typically calculated with the number of successes divided by the number of attempts.  Within Facebook reporting, a conversion rate is the number of times the desired action (purchase, signup, etc) occurs divided by a modified number of impressions- or times your ad was shown.

It’s not simply Conversions/Impressions.

Believe it or not, Facebook adds in “Basis Points” to your Conversion Rate calculation.  They do this because simply dividing your 10 purchases by the 800,000 impressions is going to give you a crazy Conversion Rate of: 0.0000125

Rather than make room in their reports for at least 5 zeroes, they modify the number of impressions by DIVIDING it by 10,000. The result on your 800,000 impressions divided by 10,000 is now a manageable 80.

Facebook then calculates: 10 / 80 = .125 or 12.5 %

While it seems sketchy at first glance, they’re really only making the report a little easier to read.  Just remember you DON’T really have a 12% conversion rate!

Happy Converting!

If you haven’t been advertising on Facebook, you should definitely test it.  I’ve seen it work both really well, and pretty miserable.  There are a lot of factors, but one thing is sure- you won’t know how your audience responds until you start testing it!  At least now you can see how those pricey, highly targeted Facebook ads are performing within their interface!

Apple's Biggest News: An Open Standard for Video Calls —

Shared by Jesse Stay
Open? H.264 is not open.

The presentation by Steve Jobs opening Apple's developer conference today was packed full of details large and small about the company's hardware and software, but the one detail that could have the biggest long-term impact well beyond Apple itself was the introduction of Apple's new video calling system, FaceTime. Jobs said on stage that the system was based on extensive use of open technical standards, and that the company intends to work hard to make FaceTime an open industry standard itself.

Live mobile video, interoperable across different phones and carriers, could be a force for major changes in the way we experience the Web and the world. It could be one of Apple's most important contributions to the future.

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Mobile Video Calling is Coming & It's Going to Be Big

Analyst Alfred Poor estimates in research released today from GigaOm Pro that approximately 3.2 million consumers will have access to mobile video chat in 2010. Poor believes that number will grow almost 50-fold in the next five years, to an estimated 142 million consumers. "The first few years of the market will see fairly small numbers with the main adoptees being early adopters," he writes, "but by 2012 the market will reach beyond the enthusiast audience to a more mainstream audience, and we'll see adoption rates similar to that of SMS and other messaging formats as illustrated in the middle of the last decade."

"The power of video communications," Poor argues, "lies in the ability of the participants to detect subtle emotional nuances during conversations." (Report: The Consumer Video Chat Market, 2010-2015 Subscription required.)

Video communication isn't just about experiencing face-to-face-style interactions remotely, though. It has the potential to enable new forms of cultural experience all together.

As Jake Dunagan and Mike Liebhold wrote in a Skype-sponsored report by the Institute for the Future last fall:

"We've seen throughout history that each new medium comes with its own possibilities and limitations, impacting individuals and the social order in profound ways. The printing press democratized communication and made a literate (and revolutionary) civil society possible. Ubiquitous and accessible communication applications are now allowing more people to join the growing global symphony of text, voice, and video conversations, with vibrant new cultures and practices emerging. We all have the potential to use video-enabled networked devices to communicate in modes and manners we never have before. As Kevin Kelly of Wired magazine wrote, we are witnessing the birth of a new culture around video communication - we are in the midst of becoming 'people of the screen.'"

The Future of Real-Time Video Communication (PDF)

Barriers to the Future

Live mobile video consumption, creation and chat and calling have been held back by a number of factors. Mobile computer processing power has been a big limitation and the iPhone 4's ability to pull it off pushes the envelope. This is presumably a substantial part of why the iPhone 4's FaceTime implementation is only able to call other iPhone 4s at launch. (Note that Nokia phones have supported video conferencing for years, though.)

Bandwidth is another major limitation, and one that Apple is avoiding for now by limiting FaceTime calls to Wi-Fi connections. Jobs said today that the feature is limited to Wi-Fi in 2010, but the company is "working with the cellular providers to get things ready." Note the use of the word providers, plural.

Cries for more and cheaper bandwidth, and more efficient ways to use what is available, will be a defining issue for the near-term future of software development, tech political policy and user experience. See Stacey Higginbotham's excellent write-up of AT&T's new 3G data cap last week for more details.

Interoperability has been another major challenge. Mobile phone users can make voice calls across networks (AT&T to Sprint, for example) and email users can email across networks, but mobile video calling across networks still requires a technical standard that is agreed upon and implemented widely.

That's what Apple aims to do with the introduction of FaceTime. The awkwardly named protocol could be implemented by all major handset manufacturers so that consumers could perform video calls as easily as we perform voice calls today.

Will other companies adopt Apple's proposed standard? If Apple maintains its dominance in desirable markets, they may.

Cross-network calling would make the market explode, as long as carriers can build out capacity fast enough. Unfortunately, there is some doubt that all parties will see big increases in consumer use of their products as a good thing. Some carriers are liable to prefer less use for more pay, and if they can spit in your eye as part of the deal - all the better.

Nothing can be taken for granted, but if Apple can help advance a cross-network standard for real-time mobile video communication - that could become one of the company's most important contributions to the world.

Discuss

The iPhone 4 is here now and it's all that we had hoped for and...well, that's about it. Apple's now predictable keynote began with stats, ended with "one more thing" and detailed a few highlights throughout regarding the company's latest creation, the iPhone 4.

But one thing didn't happen today: we weren't blown away. We weren't surprised. We didn't jump up and down, screaming. We don't even know if we'll rush right out and get one.

In fact, we might just skip the iPhone altogether and get an Android phone instead.

Sponsor

Blame Gizmodo if you will, for spoiling all our fun with their spy shots of the iPhone prototype "found" in a bar. But we don't think that was the problem. No, the problem is that iPhone has lost its edge. Meanwhile, Android is killing it.

iPhone 4 or Android?

Case in point, here's the conversation this blogger had with the spouse:

Me: It's only $199 to upgrade my iPhone!

Him: Is it 4G?

Me: No.

Him: What's cool about it?

Me: Um, it's got a better camera. And it's faster. And it's has a 3-axis gyro thingy.

Him: What's that?

Me: This thing for games, it helps when you rotate the phone, the game rotates.

Him: That's cool, but you don't really play games, do you?

Me: Not really. But it has HD video recording!

Him: So does your camera.

Me: And threaded email...And video chat!

Him: Over 3G?

Me: Well, no. Over Wi-Fi. And only with other iPhones. But EVO has Qik, and that works over 4G, actually. Hmm, maybe I should just get an EVO.

In fact, maybe I just will.

While I'm at it, here are a few more things that Apple didn't announce today:

1. 4G

No, it was not the "iPhone 4G," it was the iPhone 4. Why? Because AT&T isn't set to roll out its 4G network until next year. And Apple didn't surprise us by finally confirming the mythical Verizon iPhone, not that we expected it at this point. But still. Where's my iPhone 4G already?

2. Cloud iTunes/OTA Sync

Sure, Apple just bought Lala.com, but couldn't they have at least teased us about the forthcoming "cloud iTunes?" After all, that's what Google did. At its recent I/O conference, Google announced that an upcoming version of the Android Market would allow music and app downloads and automatic over-the-air sync. Is Apple even thinking about doing this? We have no idea.

3. 3G Video Chat

FaceTime, Apple's new mobile iChat-like application, will probably be fun, but it's not game-changing. It only works over Wi-Fi for one thing (thanks, AT&T), not 3G. Meanwhile, Qik and Fring already have video chat apps for Android and Skype is hinting at an Android app arriving this year. Oh, and Qik on EVO offers 4G video chat, too.

4. Mobile Hotspot

In the current version of the Android operating system (the operating system!), there's a feature that lets an Android phone function as a mobile hotspot. Carriers can choose to implement this feature or not. The iPhone, meanwhile, can be tethered for $20 extra per month via USB or Bluetooth on AT&T.

5. Free MobileMe

Apple wants to compete with Google, but still charges $99/year for MobileMe (for the smallest package) while Google gives away its low-end services for free. That's not working for us either.

6. Voice Input

Trying to stop your dangerous texting while driving habit? Better get an Android phone. Although universal voice input is probably coming to the iPhone thanks to Apple's acquisition of Siri, a cutting edge, voice-based digital assistant, it's not here yet. When it is arriving, though? Apple's reluctance to disclose future plans has us again, looking to Android, which does this right now.

7. Free navigation

Navigation on the iPhone? There's an app for that! *Yep, but it's not free. Google, meanwhile, offers Google Maps Navigation for free on all Android phones. Apple, either provide your own app or make nice with Google and use theirs, for goodness' sake.

8. Dashboard

We were halfway hoping that the recent news about Apple killing off all the "dashboard" apps on the iPhone and iPad meant the company was going to launch its own dashboard-like app similar to Android's widgets. Guess we were wrong here, too.

Conclusion?

All this being said, the iPhone 4 is still a great smartphone thanks to other hardware-based innovations like its "retina display" (326 pixels per inch!), its integrated antennas, and its glass and stainless steel casing housing the thinnest iPhone to date: 9.3 mm thick. But maybe now that the hardware has been modernized, maybe Apple can focus on the software?

Discuss

This morning at Moscone Center in San Francisco, Apple is expected to introduce its newest member of the iPhone family as Steve Jobs is set to deliver another carefully crafted keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). As per usual, the highly-anticipated event has sent the rumor mills spinning as Apple has remained tight-lipped about what to expect from today's announcement (with the exception of a leak or two). So just what should we expect from Apple today at WWDC? For starters, here's an infographic breaking down previous iPhone events that should give you a picture of what's to come.

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A New iPhone, Right On Schedule

The majority of evidence uncovered so far has lead most to believe that a new iPhone is undoubtedly landing today at WWDC. That last two iPhones were announced in early June and each time saw doubled storage capacity at identical $199 and $299 price points. This year's model will likely follow this trend, reaching as high as 64 GB of storage for the larger iPhone sibling. Additionally, 2009's keynote saw the 2008 model drop in price to $99, and many expect a similar price cut this year for the 3GS.

How soon will we see the new iPhone? It could be as soon as today, some have guessed. Last year's phone was available less than two weeks after its announcement, and the 3G iPhone launched just 2 days after Jobs' keynote that year. Due to leaked images of what is likely to be the next iPhone, Apple may be attempting to shuffle this next device out the door quickly, but we can't be sure. Other evidence pointing to a quick release is AT&T's new data and insurance plans which will launch today.

In the past, an updated OS has also been made available roughly around the same time as the new phone, so expect OS 4.0 to be available soon, if not right away. With the OS update comes much-awaited multi-tasking functionality, as well as many small changes to upgrade the user experience. Keeping with history, Apple will also still likely charge iPod Touch users $10 to upgrade their OS.

Rumors and Speculation

Apple also has a history of making secondary announcements when introducing a new iPhone. In the past years, these products and services has included Apple TV, MobileME and Snow Leopard - so what will the other topic of discussion be today? Some have suggested an updated Apple TV to counter Google TV could make an appearance, or perhaps the next version of Safari could be previewed.

Mostly likely among "one more thing" announcements is a Bluetooth enabled multi-touch trackpad for use with desktop Macs. Late last night, Engadget editor Josh Topolsky posted what look like pretty solid pictures of what Apple could be calling the "Magic Trackpad," if recent patent filings are any hint. The device could make the entire Apple line touch-friendly, which is a logical next step.

The leaked photographs also suggested that the latest iPhone will feature a forward-facing camera, perhaps for mobile video chat. Will we see a Skype executive up on stage with Steve walking the audience through video chat capabilities, or will this new feature be limited to an in-house iChat app placed on the phone? What could a forward-facing camera do for other fields of technology, like augmented reality? Today's keynote may answer some of these questions.

The other long-debated announcement we could see today is the iPhone's departure from AT&T exclusivity - specifically to Verizon's stronger network. Rumors of a "Verizon iPhone" have existed ever since AT&T customers began complaining about their service, but they've reached a fever pitch approaching today's event. But why stop at Verizon? Though less likely, some have suggested that Jobs could announce partnerships with several leading carriers today.

Stay Tuned!

We will be following the announcement closely this morning, so make sure to stick around for breaking news and analysis from WWDC as it happens.

Photo by Tom Coates on Flickr.

Discuss

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings says iPhone app coming this summer —

At Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Conference today, Netflix CEO Reed Hasting hit the stage to officially announce that a Netflix iPhone application is coming this summer.

Hastings also mentioned that the Netflix iPad application is the No. 1 most downloaded in entertainment apps. Details were sparse on what the iPhone app will feature, but we can expect the usual: You can search Netflix titles, and manage your queue. Hastings made it clear that users would be able to continue watching video from their last position — which will include the iPad and likely other Netflix viewing devices as well. The app will be free when its released, just like the iPad version.

He also mentioned that the iPhone app will take advantage of Apple’s adaptive bitrate technology to allow it to seamlessly switch between networks — which tells us that it will also work over AT&T’s 3G network. While that’s certainly a nice feature, now that AT&T has moved towards limited bandwidth data plans, many new iPhone owners likely won’t spend too much time enjoying Netflix over 3G.

[Image via Engadget]

Tags: iPhone, WWDC

Companies: Apple, Netflix

People: Reed Hastings

AT&T offers early upgrade eligibility to even more iPhone users —

With the unveiling of Apple’s next-generation iPhone only a few hours away, many iPhone owners are learning that they will be able to upgrade sooner than originally thought. Last night, AT&T adjusted eligibility requirements so that even more iPhone owners will be able to get the new device when its launched — many of whom weren’t eligible for upgrade until November of this year.

The news isn’t exactly shocking. Last year, AT&T allowed iPhone 3G users to upgrade to the newer iPhone 3G S at the same discounted price as new subscribers. The move followed customer criticism about having to pay a $200 fee to upgrade to the iPhone 3G S before their two-year contract was over. Now AT&T is getting ahead of the crowd to make sure recent customers will see the same heavily-subsidized iPhone pricing as new and out-of-contract users.

It was somewhat surprising last year that AT&T allowed customers to upgrade early. Had it been any other device, AT&T would have likely held its ground and forced users to either pay the early-upgrade fee, or wait until their contract was over. But because they were iPhone users, and because AT&T wanted as little bad publicity as possible, they received special treatment.

AT&T will now have to continue with the early-upgrade offer for every new iPhone release. Existing customers who upgrade early will get signed up for another two-year contract, but the carrier is still losing out somewhat. Still, it’s more than worth the cost for AT&T since it keeps users from defecting to other carriers.

To check if you’re eligible for an early iPhone upgrade, log-on to AT&T’s website and click the “Check Upgrade Options” link.

Tags: iPhone

Companies: Apple, AT&T

AT&T Makes Almost Everyone Eligible for a New iPhone [At&t] — According to many reports, AT&T subscriptions that weren't eligible for phone upgrades until all the way in November have been expedited to times in June (one report was June 20th, to be precise). BUY NEW THINGS! [coolgeex and MacRumors] More »



iPhone - Smartphone - Handhelds - Conferences - Wallpapers and Themes

Rumors of a multi-touch trackpad for desktops Macs have been along for ages, but the last time we really heard of them was last October. Since then it’s essentially been relegated to the annals of Apple rumor history, but oh look! Just hours before Steve Jobs & Co. are to take to the stage at Moscone Center for the WWDC 2010 keynote, a trio of photos said to be of the mythical multi-touch accessory have surfaced by way of Engadget. The images look extremely convincing, but let’s try to not lose our heads over a rumor this early in the morning. We’ve got a long day ahead of us.

Read

Steve Jobs & Co. have come a long way. In Jobs’ own words at D8 last week: “[Apple] was 90 days from going bankrupt” when he took over [again]. Today, Apple is the most valuable technology company in the world. Everything has gone according to Jobs’ plan to this point, but we have to wonder, are there any more peaks beyond tomorrow’s summit at Apple’s WWDC? Apple isn’t going down anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean that they might not hit a plateau for awhile followed by a decline.

Starts & ends with the iPhone

First of all, let’s start with the iPhone, which while still Apple’s greatest strength, also brings with it the biggest bullseye. At this point, there won’t be very many surprises this week about the iPhone – we’ve all seen the pictures. Couple this relative lack of surprise/awe with AT&T’s announcement this week that they will discontinue to offer unlimited plans to new subscribers starting tomorrow, and a lot of shine has already been taken off of the next generation iPhone.

The phone has good specs, it stillhas all those apps, tethering is finally coming, and Apple continues to push new ideas into the platform such as iAd and a patent for auto-geolocation. That said, we still wonder if the combination of being bound to AT&T and the rise of cheap and comparable Android phones isn’t going to at least slow the purchasing of fourth generation iPhones? Any perception of lackluster (or even average) iPhone sales (Apple has apparently ordered 24 million units) will certainly hurt Apple stocks, and could be enough to convince already teetering app developers to concentrate on Android instead (or at least first).

Fortifying the castle with iPads

Ok, so you think the iPhone is somewhat old news right? 2 million iPads in less than two months you say? Well, this one is harder to argue against, and in fact, we suspect that the iPad will keep Apple buoyed even if iPhone sales trail off a bit, especially around the holidays. Really the only thing that will slow down iPad sales in 2010 in our minds is if Apple has supply problems, which at the rate the tablets are selling wouldn’t be too surprising. However, there are other tablet computers (again, Android powered) that will hit the market this year, and perhaps by sometime next year they will catch up to the iPad – perhaps. In the meantime, expect a lot of bragging this week at the WWDC around the iPad.

Multiple trick pony

Apple is more than a two-trick pony you’ll say. Yes, they are. They have iTunes which is a tremendous money maker. They have MacBooks which do ok. They have the App Store and all those paid apps which they take a cut of, will run iAds on and as John Battelle has predicted will probably make a specialized search engine for. Though they fell behind Google at Google I/O in the “company name + TV” race, Apple is expected to launch a revitalized Apple TV this week. They’re also getting heavier into ebooks, and the iPod Touch – though its being cannabilized by the iPad – is a great little cheap phone alternative and media player. Oh yeah, and they have about a gazillion iPods out there too.

Put all of this together and Apple has reached the top of the technology mountain range and will most likely stay king of the hill for awhile. But it does have…

Enemies on all sides

Everyone seems to be against Apple. Google, HTC and Adobe certainly are. Apple may be putting Bing into Safari, but Microsoft is still fiercely (tries) to compete against Apple. Facebook and Yahoo! don’t go up against Apple too much, but they’re really not in the same game anyway. People that want “open” are against Apple (as they are with all proprietary systems). Content producers play along because, well, they have to – Jobs holds all the keys.

So the question is, how thick are the walls that Apple has built around their garden? Can they keep out all invaders from all sides indefinitely while their coffers (and their shareholders portfolios) continue to swell? Or will one well-aimed arrow – say a super HTC Android tablet that connects freely to well, everything – pierce the world’s most valuable technology company?

If they’re going to take a shot, Apple’s competitors will need to aim really high – a fortified castle on the top of a mountain of success is hard to take down.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly of AT&T’s New Pricing Plan —

Updated: AT&T changed its mobile data plans today — effectively putting an end to the all-you-can-eat mobile broadband pricing plans for smartphones. Having watched this space for the last year I knew that given the demand for mobile broadband and the capacity of the mobile networks, carriers were eager to end the practice of unlimited data because it wasn’t economically sustainable for them. As I wrote last July:

“The carriers keep discovering that if you give people access to fat pipes, they’re going to use them. That’s good for innovation, but on the wireless side, it can cause problems for the carriers’ bottom lines.”

Why Usage-based Pricing Is Here

The answer to that problem would be usage-based broadband, and in a GigaOM Pro piece (sub req’d) I outline how several of those pricing scenarios could play out. What’s key to understand here is that few folks in the industry believe it’s possible to offer the level of mobile broadband that people want on current wireless networks — even after carriers switch to more efficient technologies like LTE. An exception might be Clearwire, which has deep spectrum resources when compared with the other major carriers. Indeed, Clearwire’s Mike Seivert told me that currently its mobile customers consume an average of 7GB each month, a feat that would cost $75 a month on AT&T’s new pricing plans (on Clearwire it could cost $40-$55).

Clearwire, in which Sprint holds a 56 percent stake, has said it has the ability to stick with true unlimited service over the long term, and will likely use that as a competitive differentiator in its fight for customers among the major carriers. Meanwhile T-Mobile, the fourth-tier carrier, plans to offer unlimited speeds — until users reach 5 GB a month, at which point it will slow them down. There are no options to buy more bytes per month, and the slowdown will take place regardless of whether the network is congested or not.

Kevin did a great job laying out AT&T’s new pricing in his story this morning, but here’s the quick summary version:

• DataPlus — 200 MB of data for $15, which equates to $75 per GB. Customers that exceed the data cap will pay an additional $15 for another 200 MB.
• DataPro — 2 GB of data for $25, which works out to $12.50 per GB. Customers will pay $10 for each GB over the cap in a given month.
• Tethering — $20 per month for smartphones, on a DataPro plan. This option does not provide additional data — it uses the 2 GB provided for in the DataPro plan.

How AT&T’s Usage-based Plan Falls Short

AT&T’s pricing has taken current usage into consideration, with the carrier claiming that 98 percent of its users consume less than 2 GB per month, while 65 percent consume less than 200 MB. But in the long term, it isn’t a great option for consumers, and when it comes to the tethering fee, is downright punitive. It’s also inconsistent with managing user demand for broadband given that one reason for the shift is to manage scarce spectrum resources and prevent network congestion. Instead what it does is push more subscribers into a higher tier of service by creating an extremely low-usage tier with high overage fees, and a higher-usage tier with fees that, comparatively speaking, are much more reasonable. For example, using 201 MB on the lower-usage, DataPlus plan costs $30 whereas $25 on the DataPro plan will yield up to 2 GB. If you’re anywhere in that broad middle (or worried about landing there), you’re going to select the 2GB tier, even though most iPhone users use an average of 500 MB.

That’s not ideal, and the $20 fee for tethering is simply paying AT&T for the privilege of using your phone to connect your laptop to the web. Basically that fee is a $20 “Keep Your Laptop Off the Network” sign.

Effects on Innovation

Underlying the entire pricing structure is the idea that 2GB is enough when it comes to mobile broadband, a fact disputed by Cisco’s data noting that mobile users currently consume, on average, 1.3 GB a month, an amount it expects to grow to 7 GB by 2014. Already folks like Andy Abramson are noting how AT&T’s plan will limit the value of using Skype (especially video), since video on mobile phones will drive demand through the roof, AT&T’s pricing will cause pain for YouTube.

Also affected will be the app economy and developers looking to create the next big thing for mobile networks. For example, augmented reality requires a network connection that sends location data to offer information, but one day may rely on a database of imagery and photos sent by the camera to get a more accurate sense of where people are. Sending photos, especially those taken with 8-megapixel cameras, uses data, and could consume more if AR becomes an everyday way of finding information.

Other applications, including those that stream music, send real-time traffic updates or even web video conferencing, which is rumored as a possibility on the next-generation iPhone, would also be hampered by lower data caps, not to mention gaming and even ads consumed on the handsets. How acceptable will Apple’s iAds platform be if those fancy ads consume precious megabytes that might push consumers past their data plan limits?

What It Says About Competition

Aside from the potential shackles it may place on the app ecosystem, particularly around the iPhone, the pricing plan says a lot about the state of wireless competition in the U.S. Recently, the FCC issued a report on the status of competition in the wireless industry that laid out how, from an infrastructure point of view, AT&T and Verizon have clear advantage. They both own large amounts of really good spectrum (about 92 percent of the spectrum in the 700 MHz band in the top 54 U.S. markets is owned by At&T and Verizon) and own their own wireline networks, which means they don’t pay other people for backhaul the way that T-Mobile and Sprint do.

The top two carriers also have the ability to set voice and data plans prices that are higher than both Sprint and T-Mobile — and yet still have the lion’s share of the customers. This might be because of better network coverage, possibly attributable to those spectrum and backhaul assets. Regardless, a better network is a competitive differentiator that could lead people like myself to pay higher prices for a better experience. The top two carriers are also more profitable, likely because of their infrastructure advantage.

Yet so far only AT&T and Verizon have raised their early termination fees on smartphones and unveiled plans to implement tiered pricing. While the details of Verizon’s tiers aren’t published yet, its CEO said last week that Big Red would offer buckets of data that a customer could use to connect multiple devices. Clearly, AT&T’s pricing change is the tip of a very large iceberg that could slow innovation and cause some consumers to pay more over time. However, it’s also a symptom of our demand for data and perhaps a warning that our wireless industry isn’t as competitive as we thought it was. In short, the U.S. wireless industry was always going to kill all-you-can-eat broadband eventually, but AT&T’s method isn’t a forward-looking one, nor does it effectively help the company manage peak demand on its network.

Update: For AT&T’s explanation on the particulars of the pricing plan and the timing of the changes, please see my interview with AT&T exec Mike Collins.

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Edge Theory Conversations: Android & EVO vs. iPhone — On Friday, the HTC EVO, powered by Google's Android operating system, finally went on sale. As you know, I have been using the device, courtesy of Google I/O for the last few weeks. First I started using it exclusively, and later, I reported on my experience.

Tonight, Chris Saad (@chrissaad) and I talked about how the mobile landscape is changing with the rise of Android and the near-term arrival of iPhone OS 4 and a new iPhone device from Apple at the Worldwide Developers' Conference this week. Chris, seeing many mixed reviews of the EVO in particular, especially when it came to battery life, has not yet made the plunge, but I promised that if he did, he wouldn't regret it. In fact, I am having a hard time seeing myself return to the iPhone platform - barring something amazing. This probably violates my Apple fanboy contract, but that's what's happening.

This and all other EdgeTheory conversations can be found on the dedicated ET Conversations site.

Listen to the full recording below:

Skype 3G iPhone: 5M Downloads — But What’s the Usage? —

Skype says that less than a week after it was made available, nearly 5 million people have downloaded the 3G version of its iPhone app, with the demand distributed across Europe, North America and the Asia-Pacific region. I was among them, even though I don’t have a 3G connection, and I’m pretty sure many others without 3G connections did the same. But how many people are actively using the service? Now that’s an important question, and one Reuters forgot to ask.

The company recently told me that the Skype app had been downloaded a total of 12 million times by owners of the iPhone and iPod touch. And while it plans to charge for 3G calls between Skype users starting next year, “We’re not going to want to price ourselves out of the market,” Russ Shaw, Skype’s VP of mobile, told Reuters. “I can’t ignore the fact that consumers (currently) use us for free.”

I wonder if, between AT&T’s new data tariffs and Skype’s charges, there will really be a cost advantage to using Skype. Regardless, we can expect to see its usage climb starting next week, when Apple introduces the newest version of the iPhone with multitasking features. Many people are likely to leave Skype running in the background, especially for IM and Skype-to-Skype call purposes.

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Why Mark Zuckerberg should have a Carol Bartz moment —

Everyone seems to be against Mark Zuckerberg, founder/CEO of Facebook, lately.

Shel Israel says he should step down.

Market Watch’s Therese Poletti says he had a Nixon moment on stage at the AllThingsD Conference.

Jason Calacanis details what Zuckerberg should do to regain trust, all while noting that he imploded on stage at AllThingsD.

Even Steve Jobs was schooling Zuckerberg on privacy. More on Jobs later.

Heck, on this week’s Gillmor Gang, even +I+ was saying that Zuckerberg should put Sheryl Sandberg into the CEO role and should go and run R&D, basically agreeing with Shel Israel.

Part of me wants Mark to tell us all to go to hell and keep changing the world. He would be justified in having a Carol Bartz moment. After all, in his 26 years he’s done more than me or Calacanis TOGETHER will ever do. To detail:

1. He has — in less than seven years — created a company that has hired more than 1,000 people. How many other USA companies have hired 1,000 people in Silicon Valley in the past five years?
2. His company has been valued at many billions of dollars.
3. His company has created a platform that supports, among many companies, Zynga, which also has hired 800 employees (it’s only two years old) and my friends are throwing around valuations of billions for Zynga.
4. His company has 500 million people using it around the world and most love it a lot. My wife still is effusive with love over Facebook.

He’s done 100x more in his few years of running Facebook than Carol Bartz has AT ANY COMPANY! In her entire career! But she felt enough confidence to tell off Mike Arrington, on stage at his own conference, and telling him to “f*** off.” (that part comes at about 25 minutes into the video of Bartz on stage at Techcrunch Disrupt).

Zuckerberg, for some reason, doesn’t have that kind of personal confidence to clearly answer questions and also tell all of us to f*** off.

He should take some lessons from Bartz and have his own “Bartz moment.”

After all? How many people have I hired? 1? Israel? 0. Calcanis? 40? Even add Arrington’s 15 into the pile, it isn’t even a wart on the pile of people Zuckerberg has hired.

Have any of us changed the world the way Zuckerberg has? No. Not even close.

Have any of us caused Google to look at itself differently? No. Not even close (even Bartz hasn’t been able to do that).

Plus, he’s 26 years old. I’m not as smart or done as much and I’m 45 years old. Heck, add us all together, that’s more than 100 years of living more than Zuckerberg has and, yet, we haven’t accomplished nearly as much.

Heck, Calacanis has done such a poor job of being a CEO that he doesn’t even talk about HIS OWN COMPANY anymore. Zuckerberg should have just stared back at him and asked him “how’s Mahalo going again?”

OK, OK, now I’m going to tell you why Mark should still step down. Even though his answer to me SHOULD BE to “f*** off.”

1. Life is too short to do stuff you don’t like to do and it’s clear that Mark doesn’t like being the public face of Facebook. He doesn’t enjoy it. If he did, he would be happier on stage and wouldn’t be sweating. I’ve seen him up front and close and he’s far better when he starts talking geekery than when he is trying to represent Facebook’s business interests. I’ve recently turned down some pretty serious money to do something else because I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as what I’m doing now for Rackspace. This is something I ask myself every week or so. “Am I having fun?” If I’m not, I’m going to do something else. So should Zuckerberg. Not to mention Zuckerberg ALREADY has financial freedom I’ll never know in my life.

2. I’ve been studying Zuckerberg for a while and comparing notes with people who know him even better than me, like David Kilpatrick, who wrote an excellent book on Facebook, and it’s clear Zuckerberg has a vision for changing the world with social technologies. If we get his brain focused more on the technology side of things and less on the representing Facebook side of things I think we’ll win more. Do we really want Zuckerberg in front of Congress trying to convince politicians that Facebook isn’t evil? No. He has far more value to all of us focusing on the tech side of things, even though he’s hired very well and built a world-class organization that is disrupting Silicon Valley in a huge way.

3. My boss evaluates the job I’m doing every six months and we look at whether I’m doing more good or harm to Rackspace. I think Zuckerberg should do the same with his performance. Could he find a role that would let him use his skills in a better way? My report card of him? Hiring: A+. Mergers and Acquistions: A+. Technology leadership: A-. Execution: B+ (only because they could have gotten privacy right when they first shipped). Ability to sell: D-. Ability to positively affect perceptions: D-.

It’s clear to me where Mark has considerable skill. So why is he trying to do something he clearly isn’t having fun at? Just to get the experience? Or is there some other reason, like ambition and wanting to be the next Bill Gates? (Bill, by the way, has always sucked at public speaking and hasn’t been a loved character either, until recently when he started to save the world, so, again, why shouldn’t Zuckerberg tell us all to screw off?)

I come down to #1 the most. If Mark called me tonight and asked my opinion (he has not) I’d focus on that. Is he having fun? He sure doesn’t look like it. To me that would lead me to tell him to step down from CEO and take on a role that he’d have more fun with, like head of R&D.

But, if Mark was on the phone and I gave him that advice I’d be secretly hoping he’d tell me (and Calacanis and Israel and all the rest of the chattering masses) to screw off and have him go off and change the world again.

Oh, and back to Steve Jobs. If I were him I’d worry that I’ve lived without my iPhone for seven days so far and I haven’t missed having the crappy cell phone service from AT&T, not to mention I like having the extra features of the Android OS that aren’t yet available on the iPhone. Now, most of those features are rumored to show up on Monday but Steve should worry about AT&T. More and more of us are deciding to leave iPhones because of that (to me AT&T’s quality is worse than ANY of Zuckerberg’s privacy problems). Jobs should also worry about the kinds of anti-Apple stuff I’m hearing from developers lately, too. One developer just wrote me and told me his app hasn’t been approved for two months. How is THAT not worse than anything Zuckerberg has done to our privacy? Jobs should worry more about what his own company is doing rather than poking at Zuckerberg.

Textbook rental site BookRenter just announced that it has raised $10 million in a second round of funding.

Book rental sites promise to help students cut back on their textbook spending. Why spend hundreds of dollars on a book if you’re only going to need it for a few months? With services like San Mateo, Calif.-based BookRenter, students simply pay a rental fee and then return those books at the end of the class. The most prominent company in this market has been Chegg, which is backed by top venture firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, but chief executive Mehdi Maghsoodnia said he has a different strategy.

The first part of his plan was to establish BookRenter as the clear number two among websites for where students can rent books directly. The company says it now rents books to “thousands of students on over 5,000 U.S. campuses.” While it may not overtake Chegg in popularity, Maghsoodnia says BookRenter keeps its costs down by not buying or warehousing any books itself — instead, it connects students with partner companies who fulfill the rental orders.

In recent months BookRenter has been building the second part of its strategy — working with campus bookstores. After all, those bookstores still control a majority of the textbook market. BookRenter works with stores to add textbook rental options to their own sites. Students can either pick up their rentals from the store or have them delivered directly. Either way, the store gets a cut of the revenue. The company says more than 75 campus bookstores have signed up to use the platform.

With the launch of Apple’s iPad, there’s growing interest in electronic textbooks, too. When I asked Maghsoodnia if that’s an area BookRenter is looking at, he said it is, but it’s “not the highest priority on my list.” For now, the iPad is still priced too high for the majority of students.

The new round was led by Norwest Venture Partners, with money from previous investors Storm Ventures and Adams Capital Management. BookRenter raised a $6 million round last year.

Companies: Adams Capital Management, BookRenter, Norwest Venture Partners, Storm Ventures

People: Mehdi Maghsoodnia

Slacker Offers iPhone Music Caching Just in Time for AT&T’s Caps —

Slacker today announced support for music file caching and offline playback on iPhone OS devices. With the added functionality, Slacker Radio Plus subscribers can download “up to thousands” of audio tracks from customized stations and later listen to the stored music without a wireless connection. Although new to iPhone devices, Slacker began to supported music caching on BlackBerry and Android smartphones earlier this year.

The timing of Slacker’s news couldn’t be better for iPhone users in the U.S. Just yesterday, AT&T abolished unlimited smartphone plans for new contracts and replaced them with plans capped at 200 MB and 2 GB, although additional throughput can be purchased for an additional fee. With the new caching feature, Slacker subscribers that use iPhones or iPads no longer have to stream music over a capped mobile broadband connection. Instead, they can load up their device with music from Slacker while on a wireless home network or at a Wi-Fi hotspot.

The approval of Slacker 2.0 with the caching feature also signals a continuing change in the iTunes App Store allowing potentially competitive services and software. I first noticed this when Apple approved the Rhapsody music subscription service — many believed Apple wouldn’t approve a music service that could take the spotlight away from the iTunes store – recently estimated to have earned $520 million in the last quarter. Apple’s approval of the Opera Mini web browser is another example, although most iPhone owners don’t seem to be using it.

Either due to worries of potential regulatory action or due to public sentiment on openness, Apple is easing up on competitive apps. Of course, in the case of Slacker, it doesn’t hurt that subscriptions are available as in-app purchases, on which Apple makes 30 percent.

Related GigaOM Pro content (sub req’d):

Forget, Syncing, Let’s Put Music in the Cloud!

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AT&T warns customer that emailing the CEO will result in a cease and desist letter —

Shared by Bwana
This picture makes him look like Thad the overlord of Doom...whoever that is. EVIL?

Sure, Steve Jobs might be a one-man email PR machine, but his pal Randall Stephenson at AT&T doesn't appear to be quite as gregarious -- as reader Giorgio Galante found out today, sending AT&T's CEO two emails in two weeks results in a phone call from AT&T Executive Response Team and a warning that further emails will result in a cease and desist letter. What did Giorgio's emails say? The first was a request to bump up his iPhone eligibility date and a request for a tethering option, and today's outlined his displeasure with AT&T's new data rates and ultimate decision to switch to Sprint and the EVO 4G. That prompted Brent to call Giorgio back and thank him for the feedback, but also politely warn him that further emails would be met with legal action. Ouch. As you'd expect, AT&T just lost itself a customer. We've followed up with Ma Bell to find out exactly why they went the lawyer route instead of oh, say, filtering Randall's email -- we'll let you know what they say.

P.S.- Amusingly, Giorgio says he emailed both Randall Stephenson and Steve Jobs last year about offering tethering and actually got a response from Steve -- maybe these two CEOs need to talk about more than data rates and service quality the next time they meet up.

AT&T warns customer that emailing the CEO will result in a cease and desist letter originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Jun 2010 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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★ The Good and the Bad Regarding AT&amp;T’s New Data Plans —

Good: The big plan, “DataPro”, now costs $25/month and gives you 2 GB per month. That’s $5 cheaper than the previous “unlimited” plan, and, according to AT&T, 98 percent of their current smartphone customers use less than 2 GB per month. Almost all current iPhone users should save some money, even if just $5 per month. (I use about 500 MB per month, on average, and the most I’ve used in the past year is 1 GB.)

Good: The bandwidth overage fee for DataPro is a reasonable $10 for each extra gigabyte. Verizon and Sprint charge around $50 per extra gigabyte in overage fees. If you use more than 2 GB per month, you deserve to pay more than the rest of us who do not. Why is this hard to understand?

Good: These plans are for all smartphones. No more discrepancies between what’s allowed for BlackBerrys or Android phones (e.g. tethering) and what’s allowed for the iPhone.

Good: $15/month for the 200 MB/month “DataPlus” plan is a great starting price, and AT&T claims that 65 percent of their smartphone users use less than that. I thoroughly doubt that 65 percent of their iPhone users use less than that, but I’ll bet many do.

Bad: The overage charges for that DataPlus plan are shitty. They get charged more — $15 — for another measly 200 MB. That’s usurious. For $15, they should get an entire extra gigabyte.

Bad: Tethering is finally going to be supported — a year after it was supported on numerous other iPhone carriers around the world. But tethering costs $20/month and you don’t get any extra bandwidth at all. If you don’t get extra bandwidth, what are you paying for? It’s one thing to charge extra for tethering on an “unlimited” data plan, but it’s outrageous to charge $20 when the bandwidth is already capped. They should just include tethering support at no additional charge in the DataPro plan. (That’s what Rogers does in Canada, after running a six-month experiment to see how it worked out.)

Bad: Why did they change the plans for the iPad so soon after it was announced? What kind of company has a data plan for a flagship product, the iPad 3G — what appears to be the flagship product of the entire industry this year — available for just 30 days before changing the terms significantly? The “$30/month for unlimited, cancel or downgrade at any time” deal was a highly touted part of the iPad introduction. $25 for 2 GB isn’t bad at all, but it’s just downright weird for it to change so soon after the iPad 3G went on sale.

iPhone OS 4 and Multitasking

Remember too, that Pandora is coming. I know Pandora already has a popular iPhone app, but I seldom use it because it doesn’t play in the background. It will soon, and once it does, I’ll be using it. I’m sure I’m not alone. How’s that (and Skype, and other background streaming services) going to affect monthly bandwidth averages for iPhone users?

Lower Monthly Fees and Market Share

I don’t expect iPhone retail prices to drop this year. I think $99 / $199 / $299 are price points Apple wants to maintain. But these aren’t the real prices for iPhones. They’re subsidized, paid for by AT&T in exchange for all U.S. iPhones being locked to two-year AT&T contracts. Economically, the low-end iPhone could surely be “free”, and the higher models cheaper. But there’s a psychological branding angle that Apple wants to maintain. Apple wants the iPhone to be perceived as an affordable luxury item, not a cheap or free gadget.

A $99 entry-level purchase price is not going to keep many people from getting an iPhone. The biggest barrier for many consumers, I think, is the size of the monthly bill. Under the old rates — where there’s one and only one mandatory iPhone data plan, the cheapest plan you could get was $70/month: $40 for 450 voice minutes, $30 for data, and no included SMS messages. Now, under the new plan, you can pay just $55/month: $40 for voice and $15 for the DataPlus plan. That’s a lot closer to the sort of monthly charges that non-smartphone users are used to.

(Maybe I’m wrong on this, though. What if this month’s new next-generation iPhone goes on sales for $199/299, but the 3GS drops below $99, in a move for market share?)

Compared to MiFi

Before I decided to get an iPad 3G, I thought about sticking with a Wi-Fi-only iPad and getting a MiFi from Verizon or Sprint. The advantage to getting a MiFi: it would work with all of my computers: iPhone, iPad, MacBook Pro. The downsides: a 5 GB plan is $60/month, and I’d wind up with another gadget (and charger) to schlep around.

AT&T’s $20 charge just to enable tethering is bullshit, but even combined with an iPad 3G data plan (so as to get 3G service for both an iPad and a MacBook) it’s a lot cheaper than a MiFi — especially if you can get by with the $15/month iPad plan most months, as I expect I’ll be able to. And Fraser Speirs makes the case in this piece that the schlepping/annoyance factor with the MiFi ought not be discounted:

When using the 3 MiFi, there is too much setup involved for casual use. A lot of this is down to the poor design of the 3 MiFi. Here’s what you do to get online:

• Power on the MiFi
• Wait for it to acquire the network (20 seconds, in my absolute-best-case experience - usually much, much worse)
• Turn on the WiFi radio - another 10 second operation
• Turn on the 3G radio - 10 seconds to turn on, another 10 to get to 3G status
• Unlock the iPad, get it associated with the MiFi, get an IP address - another 10-15 seconds

Compare to the 3G iPad: you unlock it, you’re online.

Duncan Davidson expects to save money ($20 bullshit tethering fee notwithstanding) as well:

Running the numbers, if I had been able to use my iPhone for data tethering over the last six months — paying the $20/mo tether charge and $10 for the overage — I would have saved $230 over paying my $60/mo bill to Sprint. Factoring in the $5/mo difference in monthly price, I can expect to save $260 over the last six months of this year if I drop my Sprint card and move to tethering via my iPhone.

So while AT&T’s new plans are not entirely good news, the good outweighs the bad overall.

Pandora may be the Web’s best-known personalized radio service, but it’s not the best one. That honor belongs to Slacker, which just upped its game by adding caching to its iPhone app. The new feature lets you download thousands of songs to your iPhone, listen to Slacker’s customized stations when you don’t have an Internet connection, or a reliable one, or you just want to conserve battery life. And as the Slacker folks are pointing out, it may prove especially appealing for folks who sign up for AT&T’s new, not-unlimited-anymore data plans–they can cache music over Wi-Fi, then listen without eating up any wireless data.

(When you tell Slacker to cache, it advises you to do so over 3G only if you’ve got an unlimited data plan–that alert will take on new meaning once there are iPhone users who don’t have unlimited data.)

Missing, at least for now, is the automated night-time caching feature that’s available on Slacker’s Android and BlackBerry versions. Maybe Slacker will add it once iPhone OS 4 is out and it can make the downloading happen in the background.

Dave Zatz liked this feature when he tried it a couple of weeks ago, and I do, too. It’s a point in favor of Slacker’s $4.99 a month Plus service; you can try it out for two weeks for free. After the jump, some screenshots.

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