Author: Rahsheen on Black Web 2.0

The highly anticipated Motorola Droid 2 handset from Verizon may be coming sooner than you think. An Engadget reader from NC noticed his local Best Buy displaying Motorola Droid 2 dummy phones. The pricing information showed the phones running at $199 or $599 without a contract. This is pretty typical for phones of this caliber, so it’s reasonable to believe the reports.

This past weekend, Motorola and Verizon went to old media to alert potential customers of the upcoming upgrade opportunity. They posted full-page ads in newspapers across the U.S., but didn’t include any specific launch date. The ad simply says “Rule Your Empire with Iron Thumbs” and touts the “NEW advanced keyboard” the Droid 2 will be sporting. The Droid 2 dominates the ad, which also features the Droid Incredible and the newly released Droid X. The Incredible and the X both carry a price tag of $199.

While the ad only gets as specific as “coming soon,” rumor has it that the device will be launched on August 12th. As PC World notes, it seems odd that Verizon would place ads in the paper so close to the launch date (the 12th is in 3 days), without actually including the launch date. Either they are confident that the Droid brand stands on its own or the rumors are false.

The August 12th launch date is still up in the air, but it seems suspicious that the original Droid is suddenly showing up as “out of stock” on Verizon’s site. Obviously, the Droid 2 will replace the Droid and it looks like the original is moving out of the way for the impending launch.

The Droid 2 will be the first phone to have Android 2.2 (Froyo) pre-installed. This brings Adobe Flash 10.1 support and the ability to install apps to the SD Card out of the box. The Droid 2 sports a 1Ghz processor.

As we’ve previously noted here, the primary difference between the Droid 2 and other phones in the same genre (Evo, Droid X, etc.) is the physical keyboard. For many, this may seem like a step back, but a decent number of potential customers are looking for an advanced android phone with a keyboard.

Skype filed a registration for Initial Public Offering (IPO) today, filing a form S-1 registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The number of shares and price range are yet to be determined, but Skype is looking to raise $100 million in the IPO according to the paperwork. According to their press release:

Goldman, Sachs & Co., J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated will be the joint global coordinators as well as joint book-running managers for the offering. BofA Merrill Lynch, Barclays Capital Inc., Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. will also be acting as joint book-running managers. Lazard Capital Markets LLC, RBC Capital Markets Corporation and UBS Securities LLC will be acting as joint lead co-managers; Allen & Company LLC and Evercore Group LLC will be acting as co-managers for the offering.

It no huge shocker that Skype is taking this step. They have made a lot of money over the past couple of years and their numbers will only continue to accelerate. They have a loyal user base of about 124 million active users (the total number of registered users is 560 million). Of the 124 million, 8.1 are monthly subscribers who pay $96 per year on average.

Besides being successful as a stand-alone product, Skype also has its claws in the mobile industry where it can continue to grow its customers by offering competitive rates for calls over data and not waste minutes. They are also expanding into unexpected areas, as we see in their deals with television makers. SkypeKit makes it easy for any device manufacturer to add Skype support.

One major reason we may be seeing Skype going for the IPO now is the settlement of a major set of lawsuits. About a decade ago, IDT acquired Net2Phone and their VoIP technology. Six years later, 2006, Net2Phone files a patent infringement lawsuit against Skype. In 2008, eBay (owner of Skype at that point) turns around and sues IDT. Just this June, IDT filed a civil antitrust complaint against Skype. The most interesting part is that the lawsuit was just settled last week. Skype paid out $343.8 million to acquire their software, clearing the road for the current IPO.

via GigaOM

We have already talked about the iPhone potentially coming to Verizon, but it looks like these rumors are getting some teeth. Bloomberg reported the Apple phone would be launched on Verizon’s network next year. Now, we have more concrete evidence that this may be the case. According to TechCrunch, Apple has shown their hand by the part orders they’ve recently placed:

Sources with knowledge of this entire situation have assured me that Apple has submitted orders for millions of units of Qualcomm CDMA chipsets for a Verizon iPhone run due in December.

The logic is simple: Verizon doesn’t use GSM as AT&T does, they use CDMA technology on their network. This means that Apple will need to create an entirely new and separate design to accommodate this different technology. By ordering “millions” of CDMA chipsets from Qualcomm, something they have never done before, it follows that they must be creating a CDMA device. More than likely, this device will be a new version of the iPhone for Verizon.

Component purchases and manufacturing starts don’t typically reveal strong links to individual handset OEMs. But in some cases components have a DNA which is traceable through the supply chain. For example, iPad rumors became much more concrete when we knew Apple was procuring large LCD screens.

Because of the limited supply of these parts, the order has been placed just in time to get the chips by December, which could result in the devices themselves being ready some time in January. This falls in line with the earlier rumors about an iPhone for Verizon.

Adding fuel to the fire, Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg will be making the opening keynote speech at CES 2011. Companies sometimes make major announcements about new products at CES and rumors are already circulating that Seidenberg might speak on Apple. Exciting, but not likely given the control Apple exercises over their products and brand representation. It is doubtful that Jobs would allow anyone else to ever announce an Apple product. Besides, Apple’s own keynote comes just a short time later.

This could come as a huge blow to AT&T, but they insist that losing their iPhone exclusivity won’t have an effect on their bottom line. In their latest quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, they said:

“We do not expect any such terminations to have a material negative impact on our wireless segment income, consolidated operating margin or our cash from operations.”

This is odd because one-third of AT&T’s activations in the first three months of this year came from customers who were new to the carrier and I’m pretty sure the iPhone was the main attraction. They continue to downplay the risk, just as their relationship with Apple has trended down over the last year. They also claim that 80% of customers are on family or business plans, which would make it difficult for them to switch. I still believe that current and future iPhone customers are more than willing to jump through whatever hoops are necessary to improve their experience.

via TechCrunch, MacRumors

Google Denies Net Neutrality Deal

About 2 days ago, the NYT broke a story about Google and Verizon making a back-room deal which would have a serious effect on the network neutrality debate. It was reported that Google, who had come out in favor of the FCC’s direction regarding net neutrality, would turn a blind eye to Verizon. This would allow companies including Google to pay a premium for priority data traffic on the Verizon network. Closely following the articles release, Google and Verizon both countered the claims by the New York Times.

The Google Public Policy Twitter account tweeted “@NYTimes is wrong. We’ve not had any convos with VZN about paying for carriage of our traffic. We remain committed to an open internet.” Verizon posted a statement on their policy blog saying, “The NYT article regarding conversations between Google and Verizon is mistaken. It fundamentally misunderstands our purpose.” The NYT stands by their claims, so it remains to be seen who is telling the truth. via BuzzMachine

JailbreakMe 2.0 Frees Your iPhone 4, 3GS, 3G on iOS 4 / 4.0.1 and iPad on iOS 3.2.1

On Monday, iPhone Dev-Team (Comex) and company made an “official” jailbreak application. This comes a short while after The Library of Congress ruled that jailbreaking did not violate any laws. What is most interesting about this method of jailbreaking is that all you have to do is visit the JailbreakMe website to get the ball rolling. Be sure to visit Redmond Pie for a full how-to about how to jailbreak your specific iDevice.

Disqus Adds Likes and Dislikes

It’s a phenomenon that continues to spread across the web. It’s the Like feature, first introduced by FriendFeed and later co-opted by Facebook. It seems that Likes are an expected feature for most social applications at this point. Disqus, switching to Likes on comments a while back, has now extended the feature in what they call Community Likes. These are for when you don’t really have anything to add, but still want to make your presence known. They also function as an easy way to share content on Facebook and Twitter. Visitors can also Dislike content, but Disqus reports over 90% Likes over Dislikes.

Social Media and Games Dominate American Online Activity

Ever wonder why Google is so persistent in breaking into the social media game? They are all about ads and eyeballs and social media is exactly the place to find both. A recent Nielsen study confirms what Google seems to already know. 40 percent of U.S. online time is spent on social networking, playing games, or email. Google probably has a good share of the last, but is definitely working hard to break into the first two.

Google Activates Multiple Sign-In

I’ve heard the interface is somewhat clunky and there are a few caveats, but you can now sign in to multiple Google accounts on the same browser at the same time. Once you’ve visited your Google Accounts page and activated the feature, you can choose which account you want to use via drop-down where your email address usually shows up. This will only work on Google Calendar, Reader, Sites, Code, and Gmail. When you visit an unsupported service, the first account you logged in with takes precedence. If you sign out at any point on any site, all your accounts are signed out.

There are some known issues related to multiple sign-in: this feature is not available on mobile devices, Google Calendar’s gadget doesn’t work properly in Gmail, you can no longer use offline Gmail and offline Google Calendar and the “note in Reader” bookmarklet only works for the default account.

Alternet reports that a group of influential Digg users have been caught using their powers for evil. The group consists primarily of conservatives and their goal has been to bury any stories they consider “too liberal” to promote their own conservative ideals. The group has been active for more than a year, operating multiple accounts, upvote padding, and deliberately trying to ban progressives.

“The more liberal stories that were buried the better chance conservative stories have to get to the front page. I’ll continue to bury their submissions until they change their ways and become conservatives.”
-phoenixtx (aka vrayz)

The group calls itself the Digg Patriots (DP) and operated a Yahoo group of almost 100 members until it was recently shut down. Many members of the group had already been banned for life from Digg, but found ways to trick the system. Many maintained multiple accounts and sleeper accounts for when they were banned and methods for circumventing a ban were common knowledge in the group.

By coordinating their efforts and targeting the Upcoming section of Digg, they were able to remove “90% of the articles by certain users and websites submitted within 1-3 hours.” This essentially gave them the ability to censure Digg, preventing any posts they disagreed with from having a chance to make it to the front page. The Digg community ass a whole never had a chance to see or rate any of this content.

This illustrates the primary problem with social bookmarking sites like Digg. They end up being controlled by a handful of power users who dictate what content becomes popular and what is relevant. Combined with a lack of diversity in the user base, this makes these sites only useful to a narrow demographic. While this doesn’t mean Digg is lacking for traffic, it does explain why many people simply don’t get what’s so great about it and many others never use it. The content that remains popular on Digg is simply not diverse enough.

Digg.com is the powerhouse of social media websites. It is ranked 50th among US websites by Alexa (117th in the world), by far the most influential social media site. It reached one million users in 2007 and likely has more than tripled that by this point. Digg generates around 25 million page views per month, over one third of the page views of the NY Times. Front page stories regularly overwhelm and temporarily shut down websites in a process called the “Digg Effect.”

This has been a long-standing issue with Digg, but Digg v4 may be the solution to the problem for two main reasons:

1. The Bury button has been done away with entirely. This alone will go a long way to stop most of the gaming that we’re seeing with groups like the Digg Patriots.
2. Digg v4 is more social than the current version. Not only can you follow people you find relevant, but you will only see content from those users on your homepage. This personalized view let’s you choose what you want to see and prevents others from controlling your experience, making the site more useful to a wider audience.

Digg founder Kevin Rose said via Twitter that, while they’re focused on launching Digg v4, they are going to look into this recent situation.

Google has agreed to buy Slide for $182 million in a deal that will be announced Friday. According to TechCrunch, this is only one piece of the puzzle in Google making moves to create a “serious social gaming and apps strategy to counter Facebook.”

Slide is one of the pioneers of social gaming on sites like Facebook and MySpace. You haven’t heard of them because their limited success was overshadowed by companies like Zynga and Playdom. Playdom was recently acquired by Disney. Zynga has been making serious moves, inking a five year deal with Facebook, partnering with Yahoo, and accepting a $200 million investment from Google (not Google Ventures, Google proper). Besides the fact that Google dropped $200 mil on a competitor before looking to acquire Slide, some are scratching their heads about the rumored deal:

Now, I’m happy for Max Levchin and his investors, but frankly, the deal shows that Google not only has no idea what to do about social, but actually lacks the imagination to even think of anything worthwhile on its own. If Google is really trying to go social and get on the social gaming bandwagon, this deal is comparable to buying a Kia and hoping it can help you race past a Mercedes AMG 65 on the Autobahn. via GigaOM

Om sites a comment from Josh Elman (formerly of Facebook), who attempts to explain why Zynga and Playdom met success while Slide and RockYou fell by the wayside. The answer is that Zynga focused on one thing: games. They were fully invested in leveraging social gaming into a business. Slide and RockYou attempted to capitalize on whatever was hot at the time rather than building something sustainable.

Given the current state of Google services, they do appear erratic. Most deem Orkut a failure. Google Buzz had it pretty rough because of its ties into Gmail and the privacy complaints that ensued. Now, nobody even talks about it. It is also rumored that this deal was spearheaded by Google co-founder Sergey Brin, who also championed Google Buzz and Google Wave, the latter of which is no longer being developed and may close by the end of the year.

Does Google have some master plan when it comes to social networking? Are they desperately seeking a solution? Are they simply experimenting because they have the resources to do so? What do you think?

Google and Verizon, two of the biggest players in the Internet game right now, seem to have come to an agreement about pay tiers for data traffic on Verizon’s network. This would allow companies like Google to pay a premium so that traffic for sites like YouTube would get priority on Verizon’s network.

Many are quite upset about this deal, seeing it as the beginning of the end for net neutrality, a “sacred tenet of Internet policy” where no form of content on the Internet is favored over another. It is said that such a system might bring higher costs for customers, turning broadband access into a tiered payment system like we see with cable television.

This deal between Google and Verizon is exclusively between those two companies. Google, who has come out publicly in favor of a free and open Internet, has simply agreed not to challenge any decisions Verizon chooses to make about their network. Many fear, though, that this deal will have implications for the larger network neutrality talks involving the FCC.

The FCC failed in a ruling against Comcast and their right to regulate the Internet was thrown into question. Since that time, they have looked for a way to push through laws that will regulate broadband providers. In their latest efforts, they aim to treat Internet companies just like phone companies. A move which many say will still end up hitting consumers in the wallet.

While the Google-Verizon deal is not directly related, some feel it will influence opinions. Google and Verizon both support an open Internet, but believe that the path to true net neutrality involves “minimal interference from the government.” This deal could push many lawmakers to agree with this sentiment. Free Press President and CEO Josh Silver said:

“Two of the largest companies – Google and Verizon – have reportedly agreed to abandon consumer protections, filter content and limit choice and free speech on the mobile Internet. If true, the deal is a bold grab for market power by two monopolistic players. Such abuse of the open Internet would put to final rest the Google mandate to ‘do no evil.’ The financial interests of Google appear to have finally trumped its belief in policies to preserve the open Internet. A deal with Verizon cements its market power, and could make it more difficult for new app developers and software entrepreneurs to reach consumers.”

Google and Verizon have both enjoyed tremendous success with mobile handsets running Google’s Android operating system on the Verizon Wireless network. Verizon Wireless is the largest U.S. wireless carrier and Google’s Android devices definitely helped Verizon’s profits this year. Google is now activating about 200,000 Android units per day and CEO Eric Schmidt attributes much of this success to the Droid X on Verizon.

via NYT, GigaOM, Bloomberg, TechCrunch

Editor’s Note: Since the publishing of this article, Verizon Executive Director of Media Relations David Fish has posted a statement via Verizon’s PolicyBlog. Titled “The New York Times is Mistaken,” Fish disputes claims that Google and Verizon have entered into a business relationship.

The NYT article regarding conversations between Google and Verizon is mistaken. It fundamentally misunderstands our purpose. As we said in our earlier FCC filing, our goal is an Internet policy framework that ensures openness and accountability, andincorporates specific FCC authority, while maintaining investment and innovation. To suggest this is a business arrangement between our companies is entirely incorrect.

Google Wave was definitely a crowd pleaser at its launch last year. The hype was absolutely ridiculous. Speculation about whether it was going to kill email, Facebook, Twitter, or cure cancer abounded. Invites were a hot commodity as Wave remained private and you were the man if you had any. Now, according to the Official Google Blog, Wave is waving goodbye. There will be no more development on Google Wave as a stand-alone product. So what happened here?

In the private phase, many users kept saying that Wave would take off once it went public. The collaboration features were amazing, but the lack of users was the limiting factor. Once Wave opened up, many in this small group that actually knew what it was for did end up using it on the regular. Other users were still expecting a Facebook/Twitter/Email killer and were sorely disappointed. Rather than realizing they had got it wrong, they blamed Wave for not delivering. After that, the advanced real-time collaboration system pretty much became a running joke.

Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. — Urs Hölzle, Senior Vice President, Operations & Google Fellow

There are a few key take-aways here, though. Many will tout the failure of Wave as a social media powerhouse, email killer or what have you, but that’s not the whole story. I’m sure Google would have loved for Wave to attract a bunch of users and go mainstream, but it’s simple existence did push developers to try for more.

The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began.

Was this simply another failed project by Google, or was it an experiment to push the envelope? I think because of Wave’s existence, we saw much more advanced web applications than we otherwise would have because Google showed what was possible using Wave. This is the same situation we saw with Google Chrome. Did Google really want to take over the browser market, or were they just looking to light a fire under the browser market?

Wave has taught us a lot, and we are proud of the team for the ways in which they have pushed the boundaries of computer science. We are excited about what they will develop next as we continue to create innovations with the potential to advance technology and the wider web.

If you’ve been a hardcore Wave user, Google plans to make it simple for you to liberate your data. The site should be available through the end of the year, so you have more than enough time to do so.

Are you sad to see Wave go?

Vonage has just lowered the barrier to free VOiP calls from your mobile device. By simply downloading an app to your Android or iOS device (which includes iPhone and iPod Touch with iPad support on the way), you can have a voice conversation with any of your Facebook friends, worldwide.

The Vonage Mobile application for Facebook comes from one of the leading providers of high-quality voice and messaging services over broadband networks. After installing the app, a single touch of your screen lets you call up any of your FB friends for free. The service works over Wi-Fi and 3G /4G networks in most countries.

“The Vonage Mobile app for Facebook is a tangible example of our commitment to deliver extraordinary value and a better communications experience for individuals and their social networks, across broadband-enabled devices, around the world,” said Marc Lefar, Chief Executive Officer of Vonage Holdings Corp. “This is just the start. In the future we will expand on this service to include a wide range of integrated voice and messaging services that change the way people communicate.”

There is no need to remember cryptic usernames or phone numbers. The app just taps into your existing Facebook network and displays your friend list. Just touch to talk. Their profile pic is displayed when dialing or calling so that you can identify them. To get started:

• Downloads the app from the iTunes Store, Android Market, the Vonage fan page on Facebook or vonage.com/talkfree.
• Enter your Facebook ID and password into the app (one time only).
• Your Facebook contacts are automatically loaded and are grouped by friends who can be called for free and friends available for instant messaging on Facebook. A Vonage logo will appear next to the names of friends who have downloaded the app.
• Invite additional Facebook friends to get the app so that you can call them.
• Touch a friend’s name from the Call Free list to make a free call anywhere in the world; no need to be online.
• Your phone rings for incoming calls, even if the application is closed.

Given the size and popularity of Facebook and the proliferation of Android and iPhones, this is a pretty big announcement. Not only from the standpoint of being able to make free calls over your data connection, but it opens up many new possibilities. You may not have a problem chatting with someone you know on Facebook, but you also may not be ready to give them your phone number. Phone numbers are also kind of a pain. This eliminates the need for them, letting you call people simply based on their identity. The application is cross-platform, which is always a good thing.

There aren’t many people using the app yet, so go download it and tell us what you think in the comments.

Taking a page from Apple’s playbook, Research In Motion held a media event to promote their new Blackberry Torch 9800 Smartphone, which will run on AT&T’s network. The phone features:

• Multi-touch screen (480×360)
• Slide-out keyboard
• 5 megapixel camera
• 8GB internal memory
• 4GB Flash
• 4GB MicroSD
• Optical trackpad

The Torch will be coming to you via AT&T, Best Buy, Walmart, and RadioShack on August 12th. You can grab one for $199.99 with a two-year agreement. If this all sounds familiar, it should. We just went through the same type of scenario with both the iPhone 4 and the HTC Evo.

According to the recent Nielsen numbers, Blackberry sales have dropped from 39 percent in the fourth quarter to 33 percent in the second quarter. Last year, RIM’s share in the United States was 45 percent. They seem to be making the very changes necessary to keep themselves relevant as many Blackberry customers are feeling left out of the smartphone race. More than half of existing Blackberry users want an iPhone, Android, or other device as their next choice.

The Blackberry Torch takes its name from a company Blackberry acquired last year. Torch Mobile brings technology from their Iris mobile web browser, which lays the foundation for Blackberry OS 6 and brings the Blackberry interface and user experience up to par with its competitors.

BlackBerry 6 features a redesigned interface that seamlessly works with the touch screen and trackpad, includes expanded messaging capabilities with intuitive features to simplify the management of social networking and RSS feeds (Social Feeds), and provides integrated access to the BlackBerry® Messenger (BBM™), Facebook®, Twitter™, MySpace™ and various instant messaging applications available on the BlackBerry Torch smartphone. Its enhanced multimedia experience rivals the best in the industry and includes a dedicated YouTube app and Podcasts app.

This news comes just days after Blackberry’s conflict with the United Arab Emirates regarding security concerns. Because RIM stores customer data outside of the UAE, they have concerns about being able to monitor personal information. They say this is to protect national security and to allow local authorities to monitor for illegal activity or abuse. Blackberry’s will be banned in the UAE for citizens and visitors beginning Oct 11th. You will still be able to make calls, though.

via AppleInsider

According to a recent Neilsen study, Android sales are rising past the iPhone; 27 percent of U.S. smartphone sales are attributed to Google’s Android, with 23 percent going to Apple’s iPhone. While these numbers show only U.S. sales, Canalys estimates that Android smart phone sales grew 886 percent worldwide during the second quarter of this year. We must also keep in mind that the Nielsen numbers only account for one week of iPhone 4 sales.

It’s all comes down to numbers. While Apple releases a new iPhone every year on one carrier, Android seems to have multiple handsets coming out on every carrier on a monthly basis. Customers thinking about getting an iPhone most likely have to make the harder choice of switching carriers. Those looking for an Android phone simply have to choose one from their current carrier.

Android still has some work to do, though. 71 percent of Android users say their next phone will be another Android device, while 21 percent said they will be switching to iPhone on the next go-round. This pales in comparison to the iPhone, which has 89 percent of users looking forward to the next iPhone release.

Android and iPhone are both in difficult positions. While iPhone’s exclusivity and closed atmosphere has given them the ability to control user experience, it also blocks users from doing whatever they would like with their expensive new handsets. This is why jailbreaking is such a common practice, even among the less tech savvy crowd.

Even though the Library of Congress ruled that jailbreaking is not a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, thus making it a legal practice, Apple is still looking to take action against it. In a bulletin on their support forum, it looks like they’re thinking about bricking iDevices that violate their rules:

“Apple strongly cautions against installing any software that hacks the OS. It is also important to note that unauthorized modification of the iOS is a violation of the Phone end-user license agreement and because of this, Apple may deny service for an iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch that has installed any unauthorized software.”

Because of their openness, the Android platform is also suffering from rampant software piracy. Rather than buy apps from the Marketplace, users can simply download copies of the software and install them on their devices without paying. Just recently, they added a feature that will allow developers to check whether the running copy has been paid for.

As Android enjoys some accelerated growth early in their development, it remains to be seen if they can sustain it. Android will need to slow fragmentation of the OS to provide a more stable, safe, and consistent user experience. They also need to tighten up the Marketplace. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Apple will need to decide whether they will release a little control to keep users happy.

via GigaOM, SFGate

New York Times Co. said in a statement today that they will offer a method to help other publishers deliver content to digital platforms such as Apple’s iPad and iPhone devices. Individual publishers and media that take advantage of the technology will continue to control and own their advertising and subscriptions while New York Times Co. collects licensing and maintenance fees. The new product will be called Press Engine.

“This is part of the multi-faceted move into new technology. They’ve got the content, they’ve got the brainpower. We’ll see if people will pay for this stuff.” — Ed Atorino, analyst at Benchmark Co. in New York

The product will be introduced in the fourth quarter. Among the first to take advantage are The Telegraph Media group, publisher of the U.K.’s Daily Telegraph, and A.H. Belo Corp., the Dallas-based owner of the Dallas Morning News. According to data from the Newspaper Association of America, print advertising sales fell 11 percent in the U.S. in the first quarter. Publishers are in desperate need of a way to replace that revenue and this could be just what the industry needs.

In January, the New York Times will be launching a new online subscription-based model, limiting access to much of their content for paid subscribers only. While they already have a free iPad app, they will also be selling an enhanced Apple iPad application to work alongside it. Release of Press Engine comes after other publishers kept asking about it.

“Over the last year there’s been a particular amount of interest from different clients asking whether we would be willing to license the code of our own New York Times application.” — Christine Topalian, a director of the News Services division at the Times

This platform not only brings revenue in for Times Co., but also extends the possibilities for other companies and shows us one idea for ways to diversify the publishing business. Before today, Times Co. had declined 29 percent this year. This announcement brought a rise of “58 cents, or 6.6 percent, to $9.32, at 12 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.”

via Bloomberg, Adage

The mobile market is constantly exploding. Advances in mobile device technology, and high-speed data connectivity (4G, WiMAX, etc.) are taking your cell phone well beyond a simple device for making calls and texting. This also means that mobile devices are encroaching on other areas. For instance, do you need a fancy GPS device in your car when your mobile can do the same thing? Now, mobile providers want to do away with your plastic credit cards by allowing your smart phone to authorize payments.

AT&T and Verizon Wireless want to bring this technology, often called contactless payments, to the forefront. It’s not new, but it hasn’t caught on on a large scale. This is surprising because this is a technology that many consumers want. As our mobile devices take over more and more facets of our lives, it’s only natural that making payments would become one of them. The major stumbling block comes with adoption. While we as consumers seem to want the technology, we aren’t going to jump on the bandwagon until we know it will work at our favorite shops. On the other side, retailers aren’t going to spend the money to update their systems until there is a large enough base of customers to support them. Looks like a catch-22.

I’d wager that most people will leave their credit cards or wallet at home before they leave their cell phone. On the same note, many people in the black community will probably own a cell phone, but not have access to a credit or debit card at all. This is why we see things like buy-here pay-here and payday loans running rampant in our communities. Prepaid “credit” cards like the Rush Card are another symptom of this situation. Being able to used your phone for payment could be a partial solution.

Another angle here is the growing popularity of location. It’s a double-edge sword in regards to privacy, but could be an excellent way to protect your assets. Your handset would have an RFID chip embedded in it, a short-range radio signal to identify your virtual credit card. This would be combined with a PIN to authorize your purchase and could also integrate with the GPS in your phone to verify your location. Retailers could potentially send data about sales/promotions back to your phone. Imagine a scenario where you are walking around your favorite store and get alerted to nearby deals (who listens to those annoying sales announcements, anyway?). When you see something you like, buying it is as simple as laying your phone down and entering your PIN.

As Fast Company notes, Apple may play a larger part in all this than other phone manufacturers. They have already been researching this technology and have been “very aggressively patenting ideas in the contactless credit card/smart phone space–including rethinking many aspects of the traditional shopping experience.” Hopefully, they don’t end up trying to monopolize or deadlock mobile payments via the patent office.

via Bloomberg, Fast Company

The Slate Group, owned by The Washington Post, is shutting down The Big Money. Launched two years ago and sponsored by American Express and Infiniti, this spin-off was supposed to be a business media site that leveraged Slate’s existing brand and the financial crisis. According to Slate Group editor-in-chief Jacob Weisberg and publisher John Alderman, the site was “not pointed toward profitability on a fast enough timetable.” They went on to say that they “struggled to grow the site’s traffic to carry enough ad inventory to run a profitable business.”

Just a short while ago in May, Weisberg was boasting a 52 percent increase in revenues for the Slate Group during the first quarter. He also mentioned that they were one of the few publishers expanding on web journalism while others were being forced to cut back. This is obviously no longer the case and it’s interesting that such a major move as shutting down one of their properties would come in such a short time after.

Even though The Big Money didn’t make it, Weisberg and Alderman are quick to point out that these problems are centered around The Big Money. The Slate Group is doing well as a whole with a “strong first half” and revenue up 26 percent during the first six months of this year. Other properties like TheRoot.com and ForeignPolicy.com are said to be “doing well.”

The Slate will still be covering business, choosing to redirect The Big Money to a Slate Business page. A note on this landing page greets readers of The Big Money, saying: “Welcome to Slate’s Business and Technology section. The Big Money ceased publication on July 30, but the great business coverage you’ve come to expect from it continues here on Slate. Look below for the newest business and technology stories.”

The Big Money editor Jim Ledbetter is joining Slate as a full-time, staff business writer. Publisher Brendan Monagahan will be a VP of business development, in charge of developing alternative revenue streams and partnerships. Only time will tell if The Big Money was simply mis-handled, or if it’s demise points to deeper issues within The Slate Group.

via Slate to Close ‘The Big Money’

According to Wired, a Twitter account by the name of @samsungukmobile has reached out to frustrated iPhone 4 owners. Samsung is apparently handing out free Galaxy S smartphones to people who have tweeted about their mishaps with the iPhone. They simply ask for your contact details and set you up for the Galaxy S handset hook-up. Sounds like a scam, right? According to Tiffany Nieuwland, it’s legit:

“My iPhone and I have been inseparable for almost a month now, tomorrow being one month since the iPhone OS 4 launched. But the honeymoon period ended this week as repeated dropped calls, and a sudden unexplainable inability to make or receive calls or send texts left me disgruntled.

“So I did what anyone else would do: I vented my frustration on Twitter. Imagine my surprise, then, when this morning I am tweeted by Samsung offering me a free Galaxy S, their latest phone. Too good to be true? I decided to investigate.

“I called a friend at Samsung, and though she was initially sceptical, it has now been confirmed: the campaign is legit. Samsung is so confident about the superiority of the Galaxy S that they’re sending free ones to existing iPhone customers so they can decide for themselves.”

A Samsung spokesperson later revealed that this is an official promotion. They told Wired: “Recently there has been a real increase in online activity from consumers dissatisfied with some of our competitors’ products. We decided to contact a cross section of individuals to offer them a free Samsung Galaxy S as a replacement, as we’re confident that once people have the phone in their hands, they’ll see how impressive it is for themselves.”

An interesting spin on the try-before-you-buy concept with a little social media monitoring and marketing thrown in. Other brands should definitely take notice. This is almost text-book stuff for many social media marketers out there, but many companies still aren’t seeing the light.

The Samsung Galaxy S is an Android 2.1 phone with a 4″ AMOLED display. Android is nipping at the iPhone’s heels and Samsung is smart to get these devices into the hands of real customers. Even if those people don’t keep them, I’m positive they’ll be showing off their fancy free Android phones to family and friends.