$8.5 Billion Deal for Calling Service Presents a Puzzle
By some measures, Tony Bates has accomplished a lot at Skype since Microsoft paid $8.5 billion for the Internet calling service.
The statistics tell the story. In seven months, the number of people using the service each month has jumped 26 percent to nearly a quarter of a billion, affirming Skype’s status as one of the crown jewels of consumer Internet services.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/29/technology/microsoft-at-work-on-meshing-its-products-with-skype.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
A boo.com Moment? Facebook’s IPO Faceplant, Carnage in Social Media Stocks
The Facebook (FB) fiasco has spooked a lot of tech investors, especially those holding shares of recently-launched social media companies with similarly unproven earnings streams. Perhaps it’s a nice opportunity to buy shares in Zynga (ZNGA), Yelp (YELP), Angie’s List (ANGI) and the like. Or maybe it’s more like the wake-up call Boo.com gave the market with its bankruptcy in 2000: the one that made everyone suddenly remember that even a wildly popular product won’t save a company that can’t make money.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ycharts/2012/05/28/a-boo-com-moment-facebooks-ipo-faceplant-carnage-in-social-media-stocks/
Prototype Original iPad with Dual Dock Connectors Surfaces
Ever since its initial introduction in early 2010, the iPad has offered a single dock connector oriented in portrait mode. But a rumor just prior to that introduction had indicated that the device would include a second dock connector designed for landscape orientation, and patent applications filed on the design of the iPad similarly showed two dock connectors.
We’ve heard that Apple did originally plan to use dual dock connectors but scrapped the idea in favor of simplicity with just a single port, and a photo of a rear shell with holes for two connectors that surfaced in late 2010 indicated that Apple was indeed at least prototyping a dual dock connector design.
http://www.macrumors.com/2012/05/28/prototype-original-ipad-with-dual-dock-connectors-surfaces/
Can an Algorithm be Wrong?
How do we know if we are where it’s at? Tarleton Gillespie explores the controversy over Twitter Trends and the algorithmic ‘censorship’ of #occupywallstreet.
Throughout the Occupy Wall Street protests, participants and supporters used Twitter (among other tools) to coordinate, debate, and publicize their efforts. But amidst the enthusiasm a concern surfaced: even as the protests were gaining strength and media coverage, and talk of the movement on Twitter was surging, the term was not “Trending.” A simple list of ten terms provided by Twitter on their homepage, Twitter Trends digests the 250 million tweets sent every day and indexes the most vigorously discussed terms at that moment, either globally or for a user’s chosen country or city. Yet, even in the cities where protests were happening, including New York, when tweets using the term #occupywallstreet seem to spike, the term did not Trend. Some suggested that Twitter was deliberately dropping the term from its list, and in doing so, preventing it from reaching a wider audience.
http://limn.it/can-an-algorithm-be-wrong/
Apple Posts Initial WWDC 2012 Schedule, Releases Official App
With less than two weeks to go until WWDC 2012 kicks off, Apple has this morning released the conference schedule as well as the official iOS app and some guides for the conference goers. Developers who were lucky enough to snag tickets to WWDC ’12 can access the schedule here. There are over 100 sessions and labs that have been categorised into six technical tracks covering:
http://www.macstories.net/news/apple-posts-initial-wwdc-2012-schedule-releases-official-app/
Gartner Says Worldwide Mobile Payment Transaction Value to Surpass $171.5 Billion
Worldwide mobile payment transaction values will surpass $171.5 billion in 2012, a 61.9 percent increase from 2011 values of $105.9 billion, according to Gartner, Inc. The number of mobile payment users will reach 212.2 million in 2012, up from 160.5 million in 2011.
“We expect global mobile transaction volume and value to average 42 percent annual growth between 2011 and 2016, and we are forecasting a market worth $617 billion with 448 million users by 2016,” said Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner. “This will bring opportunities for service and solution providers who will need to cater to the local demand patterns to customize their offerings.”
http://www.gartner.com/it/page.jsp?id=2028315
Google Wallet: one year later
The rumors and leaks go back a bit further, but it was a year ago today that Google officially revealed its Google Wallet mobile payment service — a platform that the company is still betting big on, even if it may be slightly reconsidering the way it does business. While it might not have taken off quite as quickly as Google would have liked, the past year has still been a fairly eventful one for the service — albeit occasionally for reasons the company would prefer you forget — and the next year proves to be even more challenging as the service faces increased competition. Read on for a look back at how we got here, and what lies ahead for both Google Wallet and mobile payments in general.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/05/26/google-wallet-one-year-later/?m=false
Stock Market Loses Face
Sean Kelly, managing director at market-making firm Knight Capital Group Inc., hoped that Facebook Inc.’s initial public offering would deliver a “shot in the arm” to retail investors who feel queasy about the U.S. stock market.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304065704577429111951625728.html?mod=wsj_share_tweet_bot
Is Yandex behind Facebook’s rumored Face.com deal?
Facebook’s apparent interest in Israeli image recognition startup Face.com could rely on an unexpected partner — the Russian search engine Yandex, according to reports.
Rumors that Mark Zuckerberg is interested in purchasing first emerged on Monday, with a report in Israel’s Calcalistthat was then spun up with a potential $100 million price tag by The Next Web.
http://gigaom.com/europe/facebook-face-yandex/
