In another setback for RIM and non-Apple tablets, Sprint Nextel has pulled its support for a PlayBook model that would have run on the carrier’s 4G network.

The move, prompted by lack of demand from business customers, was originally reported in The Wall Street Journal and confirmed by a Sprint representative. “RIM has decided to prioritize and focus its 4G development resources on LTE,” a statement from RIM reads. “We remain excited and committed to delivering innovative and powerful 4G tablets to the US market together with our carrier partners. Testing of BlackBerry 4G PlayBook models is already under way.|

Without Sprint’s backing the PlayBook will have no support from a U.S. carrier. Neither AT&T nor Verizon have offered backing for PlayBook, but both support Apple’s iPad 2.

Although RIM has recently suffered because of a lack of demand for BlackBerry smartphones, Sprint’s decision also comes as tablet PCs have failed to gain much traction against the iPad. In a sign that RIM’s not the only one struggling to compete with Apple, Hewlett-Packard cut the price of its TouchPad by $100 last week. That device had only been on the market for a month.

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Qualcomm reached an agreement with AT&T to sell its remaining share of the D block of 700 MHz spectrum in the U.S. last December. In an effort to convince regulators they may be holding up the innovation process, late Monday, Qualcomm issued a statement on behalf of the corporation that made a bold, but unusual, claim: It would only have the resources to build services such as FLO TV using that spectrum, if it could sell that spectrum to AT&T first.

Sponsor

The statement from Qualcomm VP of Government Affairs Dean Brenner reads:

The FCC should approve the pending AT&T-Qualcomm spectrum sale now because of the clear benefits to the public from the sale that stand on their own and are totally unrelated to the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile merger. Approval now will foster the public policies that the FCC correctly deems so vital for the American public. Approval now will re-purpose unused 700 MHz unpaired spectrum for mobile broadband, thereby easing America’s spectrum crunch and helping to meet the FCC’s goal of reallocating 300 MHz for mobile broadband over the next five years. Approval now will also allow Qualcomm to invest in a new, spectrally efficient technology (supplemental downlink) and enable the first worldwide deployment to occur in the U.S., thereby fostering U.S. economic growth and job creation and enhancing U.S. global leadership in wireless technology.

In a letter to AT&T and Qualcomm representatives dated August 8, FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan warned the two companies that the issues surrounding their proposed sale, and those surrounding the T-Mobile acquisition, could overlap:

The Commission’s ongoing review has confirmed that the proposed transactions raise a number of related issues, including, but not limited to, questions regarding AT&T’s aggregation of spectrum throughout the nation, particularly in overlapping areas. As a result, we have concluded that the best way to determine whether either or both of the proposed transactions serve the public interest is to consider them in a coordinated manner at this time, without prejudice to independent treatment at a later date.

The FCC established the 180-day review procedure in an effort to make the regulatory process fit some established, manageable template. That said, the Commission says, it’s under no obligation to itself to complete its review within that timeframe. As the Commission states:

We also remind the public that, although the agency seeks to meet the 180-day benchmark, its statutory obligation to determine that an assignment or transfer serves the public interest takes precedence over the informal timeline. The Commission’s failure to release an order within the 180-day benchmark is not indicative of how it will resolve the issues raised in this proceeding.

Just over two weeks ago, Sen. Al Franken (D – Minn.) wrote each of the FCC commissioners, urging them to reject the proposed T-Mobile acquisition by AT&T for reasons including AT&T’s alleged mismanagement of the spectrum it already does own. Sen. Franken wrote:

AT&T owns more spectrum than any other company, yet AT&T has been plagued with delays in rolling out infrastructure to support spectrum it has been allocated. The quality of the service it provides is consistently ranked last amongst the national carriers, and it continues to use spectrum in an inefficient manner. The question your agencies must consider is not how badly AT&T needs the spectrum, but how effective AT&T would be at making use of that spectrum relative to other carriers. Moreover, I believe the public interest would be far better served if AT&T was required to resolve its spectrum crunch by investing a portion of the $39 billion it plans to spend on this transaction to build out its existing spectrum and to deploy additional technologies to make more efficient use of its current spectrum holdings.

Discuss

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Qualcomm reached an agreement with AT&T to sell its remaining share of the D block of 700 MHz spectrum in the U.S. last December. In an effort to convince regulators they may be holding up the innovation process, late Monday, Qualcomm issued a statement on behalf of the corporation that made a bold, but unusual, claim: It would only have the resources to build services such as FLO TV using that spectrum, if it could sell that spectrum to AT&T first.

Sponsor

The statement from Qualcomm VP of Government Affairs Dean Brenner reads:

The FCC should approve the pending AT&T-Qualcomm spectrum sale now because of the clear benefits to the public from the sale that stand on their own and are totally unrelated to the proposed AT&T-T-Mobile merger. Approval now will foster the public policies that the FCC correctly deems so vital for the American public. Approval now will re-purpose unused 700 MHz unpaired spectrum for mobile broadband, thereby easing America’s spectrum crunch and helping to meet the FCC’s goal of reallocating 300 MHz for mobile broadband over the next five years. Approval now will also allow Qualcomm to invest in a new, spectrally efficient technology (supplemental downlink) and enable the first worldwide deployment to occur in the U.S., thereby fostering U.S. economic growth and job creation and enhancing U.S. global leadership in wireless technology.

In a letter to AT&T and Qualcomm representatives dated August 8, FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief Rick Kaplan warned the two companies that the issues surrounding their proposed sale, and those surrounding the T-Mobile acquisition, could overlap:

The Commission’s ongoing review has confirmed that the proposed transactions raise a number of related issues, including, but not limited to, questions regarding AT&T’s aggregation of spectrum throughout the nation, particularly in overlapping areas. As a result, we have concluded that the best way to determine whether either or both of the proposed transactions serve the public interest is to consider them in a coordinated manner at this time, without prejudice to independent treatment at a later date.

The FCC established the 180-day review procedure in an effort to make the regulatory process fit some established, manageable template. That said, the Commission says, it’s under no obligation to itself to complete its review within that timeframe. As the Commission states:

We also remind the public that, although the agency seeks to meet the 180-day benchmark, its statutory obligation to determine that an assignment or transfer serves the public interest takes precedence over the informal timeline. The Commission’s failure to release an order within the 180-day benchmark is not indicative of how it will resolve the issues raised in this proceeding.

Just over two weeks ago, Sen. Al Franken (D – Minn.) wrote each of the FCC commissioners, urging them to reject the proposed T-Mobile acquisition by AT&T for reasons including AT&T’s alleged mismanagement of the spectrum it already does own. Sen. Franken wrote:

AT&T owns more spectrum than any other company, yet AT&T has been plagued with delays in rolling out infrastructure to support spectrum it has been allocated. The quality of the service it provides is consistently ranked last amongst the national carriers, and it continues to use spectrum in an inefficient manner. The question your agencies must consider is not how badly AT&T needs the spectrum, but how effective AT&T would be at making use of that spectrum relative to other carriers. Moreover, I believe the public interest would be far better served if AT&T was required to resolve its spectrum crunch by investing a portion of the $39 billion it plans to spend on this transaction to build out its existing spectrum and to deploy additional technologies to make more efficient use of its current spectrum holdings.

Discuss

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As expected, Samsung has decided to fight back against Apple’s preliminary injunction to ban sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 across the European Union (excluding the Netherlands). On August 25, the rumble continues, as Samsung will go to court in Dusseldorf, Germany to appeal the court’s decision, reports the Wall Street Journal.

It’s been a long and bloody fight so far, with both sides losing quite a bit of ground. In Samsung’s case, the European injunction is by far the greatest setback. But the GalTab has also been put on hold in Australia, with decisions pending here in the U.S. That’s a pretty big hunk of the global market to lose, and if these preliminary import bans become permanent ones, it could change the tablet game considerably.

The GalTab is widely regarded as the strongest competitor to the iPad, and Apple’s widespread control of the tablet market is certainly threatened by this new Samsung slate. But what’s worse is that Apple’s reputation is also at stake. While there are innumerable complexities to consider going into these patent brawls, the majority of the general public doesn’t really have access to the nitty gritty details of the court proceedings (details on the trade-dress violations, the in’s and out’s of this extremely complex legal process across multiple court systems, etc.).

I whole-heartedly believe that Apple has every right to defend its trade dress, and I also believe that some of Samsung’s new products (the GalTab 10.1 and Galaxy S II smartphone, included) very closely resemble the look and feel that Apple has spent so much time establishing. The appearance of Apple products is just as important as what they do, and Apple knows this.

At the same time, Apple tends to overreach. Once the complaints start moving into the software arena, things get really blurry. Android, iOS and Windows Phone 7 all share quite a few different features, yet the patents related to software are so general and broad that it hardly seems fair. Every time Apple pushes hard against Android, whether it be with Samsung’s smartphones or HTC’s, Apple ends up looking entitled and desperate to premptively squash competition.

In any case, we’re the ones with the most to lose. Apple and Samsung will both survive this fight, albeit with a few bumps and bruises. But end-users are getting screwed out of fun new toys, and that’s what hurts the most.

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Not only is Amazon trying to stick it to Groupon, the e-commerce giant has employed the services of its partner and Groupon’s largest competitor, LivingSocial, to be the sales force behind merchant partnerships with the service. The WSJ notes that Amazon plans on hiring its own sales force but it is a clever move by the company to outsource the sales team initially so as to ramp up the service quickly. Amazon has rolled out the service in Seattle, Boise, Los Angeles and Palm Beach, Fla. Groupon is in its six-month quiet period after filing its S-1 for an initial public offering and cannot (reasonably) comment on the proliferation of clones and competitors gunning for large slices of the daily deals pie. Will Groupon be able to withstand the mounting army of competition?

Sponsor

The short-term answer is yes. Groupon’s competitors are splitting into two groups – above and below. The below group consists of startups focused specifically on daily deals, including LivingSocial, Gilt City, Zozi, BuyWithMe (and others). These are being built from the bottom on up without existing infrastructures of users and consumer communication channels. Groupon is in the same boat as these, it is just ahead of the game with its merchant and user acquisition plans. So far in its history, Groupon has held off the upstarts by being bigger and more aggressive.

The competition coming from above may be harder to handle. Amazon, Google (through Google Offers), AT&T, American Express and other existing large enterprises are coming for Groupon’s business model and they have an advantage over the original daily deals provider – they do not have to pay nearly as much for user acquisition. Their users already exist and it is just a matter of extending an offers channel within their existing framework.

Amazon’s Infrastructure More Mature Than Groupon’s

Amazon is the most dangerous of this group, even with advantages over Google. Foremost, it understands e-commerce and how to treat customers and merchants, something that Google stretches for but is not in its corporate DNA. Groupon has struggled with merchants in the past and will continue to struggle with merchants in the future as it tries to continue its high velocity upward trajectory. Consumers trust Amazon while they are still wary of Groupon.

The daily deals industry was bashed by many when the particulars of the Groupon S-1 came out. Mostly, the ecosystem was appalled that Groupon made so much money yet was not profitable because the company spends so much on user acquisition. Yet, take away most of that cost and it is easy to see how daily deals can be extremely lucrative to a company that does not have to spend nearly as much on user acquisition. Amazon fits that bill.

Amazon has had its sights set on the daily deals market for a while now, investing $175 million in LivingSocial in December 2010. By enlisting LivingSocial as its sales force, Amazon is beginning to make some of that investment back. It would not be a surprise if Amazon just completely subsumed LivingSocial into Amazon Local if the deals sector proves to be a popular new market for the company.

Discuss

Go to Source

Not only is Amazon trying to stick it to Groupon, the e-commerce giant has employed the services of its partner and Groupon’s largest competitor, LivingSocial, to be the sales force behind merchant partnerships with the service. The WSJ notes that Amazon plans on hiring its own sales force but it is a clever move by the company to outsource the sales team initially so as to ramp up the service quickly. Amazon has rolled out the service in Seattle, Boise, Los Angeles and Palm Beach, Fla. Groupon is in its six-month quiet period after filing its S-1 for an initial public offering and cannot (reasonably) comment on the proliferation of clones and competitors gunning for large slices of the daily deals pie. Will Groupon be able to withstand the mounting army of competition?

Sponsor

The short-term answer is yes. Groupon’s competitors are splitting into two groups – above and below. The below group consists of startups focused specifically on daily deals, including LivingSocial, Gilt City, Zozi, BuyWithMe (and others). These are being built from the bottom on up without existing infrastructures of users and consumer communication channels. Groupon is in the same boat as these, it is just ahead of the game with its merchant and user acquisition plans. So far in its history, Groupon has held off the upstarts by being bigger and more aggressive.

The competition coming from above may be harder to handle. Amazon, Google (through Google Offers), AT&T, American Express and other existing large enterprises are coming for Groupon’s business model and they have an advantage over the original daily deals provider – they do not have to pay nearly as much for user acquisition. Their users already exist and it is just a matter of extending an offers channel within their existing framework.

Amazon’s Infrastructure More Mature Than Groupon’s

Amazon is the most dangerous of this group, even with advantages over Google. Foremost, it understands e-commerce and how to treat customers and merchants, something that Google stretches for but is not in its corporate DNA. Groupon has struggled with merchants in the past and will continue to struggle with merchants in the future as it tries to continue its high velocity upward trajectory. Consumers trust Amazon while they are still wary of Groupon.

The daily deals industry was bashed by many when the particulars of the Groupon S-1 came out. Mostly, the ecosystem was appalled that Groupon made so much money yet was not profitable because the company spends so much on user acquisition. Yet, take away most of that cost and it is easy to see how daily deals can be extremely lucrative to a company that does not have to spend nearly as much on user acquisition. Amazon fits that bill.

Amazon has had its sights set on the daily deals market for a while now, investing $175 million in LivingSocial in December 2010. By enlisting LivingSocial as its sales force, Amazon is beginning to make some of that investment back. It would not be a surprise if Amazon just completely subsumed LivingSocial into Amazon Local if the deals sector proves to be a popular new market for the company.

Discuss

Go to Source

Rick Wilking/Reuters

Amazon’s Revenue, Spending Jump: At yesterday’s earnings meeting, Amazon refused, yet again, to reveal the numbers behind its best-selling Kindle e-reader. The company also declined to comment on the rumored tablet computer that the Wall Street Journal reported on earlier this month.

But Amazon did have other big items to share such as a 51% jump in second-quarter revenue—the best growth rate in 10 years according to the company’s finance chief. The Journal reports that the sales came at a cost. Profit fell 8% as operating expenses rose 54%.

The Journal has the full numbers round-up with a look into what Amazon is investing in—more warehouses, Web services, people—and a comment by Amazon about its ongoing tax battle with California, Texas and other states. [WSJ, New York Times]

Miss the Latest “Glee”? It Could Cost You: Fox Broadcasting announced that it will make recently aired TV episodes available online only to paying subscribers. Fans of such shows as “Glee” will have to wait eight days after broadcast debut to watch the programs for free on Fox.com or video site Hulu..

Subscribers to Hulu’s paid subscription service, Hulu Plus, or satellite operator Dish Network who visit dishonline.com will get immediate access, however. Fox executives told the Wall Street Journal that they are in talks with other pay-TV distributors to include access to Fox shows as part of their TV subscription plan.

The Journal says that Fox’s action marks a big shift in free availability as media companies worry that free Internet versions of shows are eating into ratings and, ultimately, TV ad rates. They also cited cord-cutting, where TV watchers forgo paying for cable in favor of Internet TV watching, as another threat.

Fox and The Wall Street Journal are owned by News Corp. which is also a part owner of Hulu LLC. [WSJ, paidContent]

NSA Lawyer Questioned on Cellphone Tracking of Americans: At a Senate intelligence meeting on Capitol Hill, an NSA lawyer acknowledged that the National Security Agency may have the authority to use cellular data to track the locations of Americans. “There are certain circumstances where that authority may exist,” said Matthew Olsen, the NSA’s general counsel. [Digits Blog/WSJ]

Why Microsoft Won’t Dump Bing: The world may see Bing as a runner up in the search engine department, but Microsoft execs see it as key to its Windows Phone 7 platform and Windows Live TV. Redmondmag.com has the scoop. [Redmondmag.com]

Gather ‘Round the Server: It may be too hot to be even thinking about this, but researchers at Microsoft have proposed a novel idea over what to do with both energy-hog servers and chilly homes: Place servers for cloud computing inside homes and office buildings. [Gizmag]

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TFTS – Bringing you the very lastest technology and gadget news 24/7

Original Post: Google Unpopular With Mountain View City Council [Google's Plans To Expand In Mountain View Unpopular As It Would Effect Outdoor Areas, Will Google Have To Leave The City?]

View lastest in: Mobile/Cell Phones | No comments so far | Add to del.icio.us

© 2011 TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities – Unauthorised duplication and/or distribution of this content is strictly forbidden.

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(more…)

Connect with the TFTS Team? New TFTS Facebook Page now Active – Stop by, Get Involved

TFTS – Bringing you the very lastest technology and gadget news 24/7

Original Post: Google Unpopular With Mountain View City Council [Google's Plans To Expand In Mountain View Unpopular As It Would Effect Outdoor Areas, Will Google Have To Leave The City?]

View lastest in: Mobile/Cell Phones | No comments so far | Add to del.icio.us

© 2011 TFTS – Technology, Gadgets & Curiosities – Unauthorised duplication and/or distribution of this content is strictly forbidden.

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Nelson Ching/Bloomberg

The Apple Inc. logo is covered up at a store in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, on Monday, July 25, 2011.

World Famous Fake Apple Store Gets Government Review: Authorities in the Chinese city of Kunming are investigating electronics stores following the revelation of a fake Apple store in the city.

The Wall Street Journal reports that outside of the four legal Apple Stores in China, Apple relies on authorized resellers to sell its products. But thousands of unauthorized resellers also sell Apple merchandise purchased from Apple Stores or authorized resellers and then resold at a markup.

According to a The Wall Street Journal interview with the Kunming store’s manager, the fake Apple Store was an unauthorized reseller. “We never claim to be [authorized],” the manager told WSJ, “but we have a business license and we are running our business by law.”

The WSJ says that it is unclear whether the crackdown was prompted by complaints from Apple. The company is on a roll in the country, as it closes in on partnership with China’s largest mobile carrier. The New York Times wraps up coverage with a look at the country’s Apple Mania. [WSJ, New York Times]

Nathan Myhrvold: Patent Troll or the Protector of the Small Inventor? NPR’s This American Life looks into the work of Nathan Myhrvold, the former chief technology officer at Microsoft, who went on to create the Intellectual Ventures, an intellectual property site that has made its numbers buying patent portfolios and then demanding that technology companies license these patents.

NPR gets statements from both sides. The company can “literally obliterate startups,” a venture capitalist and early inverstor in Twitter claims. No we don’t, says Myhrvold, who sees the company as standing up for “patent rights” and protecting small inventors from being railroaded by big companies with expensive lawyers.

But when reporters try to track down some of the smaller inventors, they find….a slightly different story.

Taking a cue from the report, Reuters looks into the “cost of patent trolls,” and finds smaller companies at risk. The country, it concludes, is in need of a complete patent overhaul.  [NPR, NPR/Audio Clips, Reuters]

Hacking: On the Upswing or Just a Press Freak-Out? The guys at Freakonomics pose the question to several cyber-security and I.T. experts. Their answer: a little of both. [Freakonomics]

Apple Cracks Down on iOS Apps: Kobe, the Canadian e-book retailer, and the Wall Street Journal have removed links from their iOS apps that allowed users to purchase content from their respective web sites. In February Apple required that all iOS app publishers selling digital media needed to make the content for sale via an app, rather than through a link to an outside website. Both Kobe and the WSJ were seen as trying to circumvent that requirement. [WSJ]

A Tech Rip Van Winkle Mulls Over IE: A Firefox developer doing user testing in a San Francisco mall came across a 60-year-old man who had never used a computer. The encounter was beneficial to both parties. The developer learned that one can never assume anything about user interfaces and the old newbie got an email address. [Boriss' Blog Gizmodo]

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On Friday morning, news of an explosion in an Oslo government building followed by shootings in a nearby island spread quickly across the web.

Social media has been serving as a key way for people around the world to send out and receive information. Many of our Twitter followers reported turning to Twitter, Google+ and live streaming news organizations for updates on the story. Most people told us that online news reports were delivering the news faster than television.

We now know that at least seven people were killed Friday in Oslo after a bomb exploded in the main government district. Later in the day, reports said a shooter entered a Labor Party rally on the island of Utøya dressed in a police uniform and opened fire. At least nine people were killed in that incident. The two acts are related, according to The Wall Street Journal, with police saying that the suspect is Norwegian.

To follow developments on this story, here are the resources recommended by our readers.

Twitter Hashtags

#osloxpl, #oslo, #oslobomb, #utøya

Live Streams to Follow

• BBC News feed
• Norwegian TV station NRK
• CNN
• Al Jazeera live blog

Other Resources

• Oslo Storyful
• Oslo explosion Storify by Joseph Stash
• Breaking News resource page

Google+ Resources

• Google+ Oslo Spark
• Raymond K, from Oslo, has been sending powerful live reports from his country.
• A post suggesting which Google+ users to add to a circle for breaking updates, made by Siegfried Hirsch

Twitter Accounts to Follow

• Andy Carvin of NPR: @acarvin
• Reuters: @Reuters
• Rune Håkonsen of the Norwegian Broadcasting Corp: @runehak
• Blake Houshell, managing editor of Foreign Policy magazine: @blakehounshell
• @finansakrobat, a Norwegian reporter.

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The U.S. Department of Justice is preparing to issue subpoenas to media empire News Corp as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations that the company’s employees bribed UK police and hacked the voicemails of September 11 victims, among others.

According to News Corp-owned publication The Wall Street Journal, which obtained its information from an unnamed government official, the subpoenas are awaiting approval from senior leadership in the Justice Department.

The subpoenas could be the first big step into a larger investigation about whether News Corp’s alleged police bribery is in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which has been used in the past to bring charges against companies that bribe foreign officials and political parties.

Despite reports that the FBI, SEC and Justice Department are looking into the allegations against News Corp, nothing has yet been publicly confirmed.

In the UK, meanwhile, police are conducting two separate investigations into the charges, and the UK government is planning at least two public probes.

Last week, News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch and his son, James, fielded questions from members of Parliament (pictured above right). Highly placed figures in both News Corp and the UK police have also resigned from their respective organizations.

A News Corp spokesperson said that the company has “not seen any evidence to suggest there was any hacking of 9/11 victim’s phones, nor has anybody corroborated what are clearly very serious allegations. The story arose when an unidentified person speculated to the Daily Mirror about whether it happened. That paper printed the anonymous speculation, which has since mushroomed in the broader media with no substantiation.”

She added that there is no visible “indication of a connection or similarity between the events, allegations and practices being investigated in the U.K. and News Corp’s U.S. properties.”

More About: Department of Justice, FBI, james murdoch, media, News Corp, rupert murdoch, SEC

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Members of Apple’s board talked to executive recruiters and at least one “head of a high-profile technology company” to succeed CEO Steve Jobs, according to a report.

The conversations, which “weren’t explicitly aimed at recruiting a new chief executive and were more of an informal exploration of the company’s options,” took place when Jobs went on medical leave earlier this year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple’s board has seven directors, including Jobs. It appears the directors who made the inquiries were not acting on the full board’s behalf, the report says.

It’s not clear whether Jobs was aware of any of this. When The Wall Street Journal emailed Jobs, he replied, “I think it’s hogwash.”

Jobs took a leave of absence from Apple — his second in two years — on January 17. In a memo to his staff, Jobs said he was taking the leave to “focus on his health.” Jobs said he would “continue as CEO and to be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.”

Though Jobs didn’t disclose the nature of his health problems, The Wall Street Journal revealed in 2009 that the first leave of absence was for a liver transplant. Since announcing the leave of absence, Jobs has appeared in public several times, most notably to deliver the keynote at WWDC 2011 in early June. Mashable‘s live blog of the event noted that Jobs was “looking thinner than ever, but sounding strong.”

More About: apple, business, steve jobs

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Members of Apple’s board talked to executive recruiters and at least one “head of a high-profile technology company” to succeed CEO Steve Jobs, according to a report.

The conversations, which “weren’t explicitly aimed at recruiting a new chief executive and were more of an informal exploration of the company’s options,” took place when Jobs went on medical leave earlier this year, according to The Wall Street Journal. Apple’s board has seven directors, including Jobs. It appears the directors who made the inquiries were not acting on the full board’s behalf, the report says.

It’s not clear whether Jobs was aware of any of this. When The Wall Street Journal emailed Jobs, he replied, “I think it’s hogwash.”

Jobs took a leave of absence from Apple — his second in two years — on January 17. In a memo to his staff, Jobs said he was taking the leave to “focus on his health.” Jobs said he would “continue as CEO and to be involved in major strategic decisions for the company.”

Though Jobs didn’t disclose the nature of his health problems, The Wall Street Journal revealed in 2009 that the first leave of absence was for a liver transplant. Since announcing the leave of absence, Jobs has appeared in public several times, most notably to deliver the keynote at WWDC 2011 in early June. Mashable‘s live blog of the event noted that Jobs was “looking thinner than ever, but sounding strong.”

More About: apple, business, steve jobs

For more Business & Marketing coverage:

• Follow Mashable Business & Marketing on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Business & Marketing channel
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It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. 

-Charles Dickens from A Tale of Two Cities

For people who spend most of their days within a few blocks of tech start-up epicenters such as South Park in San Francisco, University Avenue in Palo Alto or the Flatiron district in New York, last week’s jobs report must have created some cognitive dissonance. After all, we’re in a boom/bubble right? It’s really hard to hire good people isn’t it? But take a moment to step outside the world of high technology and a dramatically different picture emerges of what’s going on in America.

The number of unemployed now eclipses 14 million nationwide. Underemployment is scary too with U-6, the government’s official measure of under-utilization,rising to 16.2% in June from 15.8% in May. But the worst number of them all might be mean duration of employment (the length of time that the average unemployed person has been out of work) which has spiked to 40 weeks. As a Wall Street Journal article this week pointed out, if you factored in those who’ve dropped out of the labor market (and therefore aren’t counted in unemployment numbers), the situation would appear even worse.

Which bring us to an important question: Should Silicon Valley (and other tech clusters throughout the country) care? After all, as long as people in Nebraska or the Central Valley of California have enough money to buy virtual tractors to tend their crops in Farmville, should the tech community be worried about whether those same people are getting paid to do work in the real world? Is what’s best for Silicon Valley also good for America?

On one hand, a thriving tech sector is a beacon of hope for America and perhaps one of a shrinking number of things keeping the country from slipping from its perch as the world’s foremost economic superpower. Fast-growth companies like Facebook, Groupon and Twitter create jobs, attract foreign investment (see Sarah Lacy’s article “How We All Missed Web 2.0′s “Netscape Moment”) and generate tremendous amounts of wealth for employees and shareholders which circulates throughout the economy.

In addition, a host of technology companies enable people around the country to make money. Etsy empowers people anywhere to make money selling handmade goods. AirBnB allows anyone with a house or apartment to make money renting it out. And whether you’re talking about design communities like 99designs, crowdsourcing platforms like CrowdFlower, outsourcing sites like oDesk or an artisan food marketplace like Foodzie, tech-enabled marketplaces allow millions of dollars to flow from consumers to producers every year. (Check out Semil Shah’s article “The P2P Evolution” for more great examples of this in action.)

Furthermore, tech companies are helping to reshape how people train for and ultimately find employment. It’s easier than ever to pick up new skills online with the explosion in blogs, tutorials, screencasts and online video. For a self-motivated individual of at least average intelligence there is a shrinking number of excuses for not possessing in-demand skills. And jobs and recruiting platforms like Branchout, Jobvite, LinkedIn and Monster.com certainly help job seekers to smooth the path to employment.

But there’s a flip side to the argument that this technological innovation is good for the country. Books like A Whole New Mind,  The Great Stagnation and The Lights in the Tunnel make arguments that automation and outsourcing are increasingly pushing jobs outside the country and in many cases, doing away with them altogether (you did see that crazy video of the Diapers.com warehouses didn’t you?). The rate of increasing technological innovation certainly produces new jobs but does it produce jobs at a rate great enough to replace those it might be eliminating?

In a similar vein, many of the companies in Silicon Valley are succeeding precisely because they’re disrupting existing players in their industries. Amazon is doing really well right now (almost $10 billion in revenue in the last quarter alone). Borders…not so much. Go iTunes and Spotify. RIP Tower Records. Creative destruction is alive and well but how many people in Silicon Valley are thinking about what happens to that displaced worker at the record store or bookstore?

Maybe something is missing in the Valley and surrounding tech communities and that’s a stronger sense of responsibility to make sure that the vast majority of the country isn’t left behind by all this cool technology that we’re building. In Paul Graham’s essay Great Hackers he points out that the more sophisticated tools become, the greater variation there is in productivity. He writes:

In a low-tech society you don’t see much variation in productivity. If you have a tribe of nomads collecting sticks for a fire, how much more productive is the best stick gatherer going to be than the worst? A factor of two? Whereas when you hand people a complex tool like a computer, the variation in what they can do with it is enormous.

If accumulation of wealth correlates with productivity then, in Graham’s view, increasing variation of wealth might actually be a sign of good things. But could this increase in variation lead to the creation of two almost completely distinct countries in America, one which continues to boom and create enormous wealth for those who reside in it and another for which long-term unemployment and underemployment and the corresponding frustration that accompanies those states becomes the norm?

Megan McArdle wrote a poignant article entitled “Why Unemployment Matters” in last week’s Atlantic where she detailed some of the crushing residual effects of being out of work. It’s worth reading and asking the questions: Can we be doing more about this? Should we even be doing anything about it? The answers to these questions matter a lot.  Please share your thoughts in comments.

Image via Getty

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David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

Google, Shareholders  “Super Excited” About Everything: The search engine giant showed all young Silicon Valley upstarts how it’s done yesterday, shaking off accusations of being a mere “value” stock and announcing a 36% jump in revenue for the second quarter. The growth was driven by Google’s core search engine advertising. Company shares went up more than 10% in after-hours trading.

Almost as big for some Google followers was that CEO Larry Page, not one for the spotlight, delivered the opening statement at the earnings presser. He stayed around for the Q&A and likely would have remained for cocktails—-if they were any–because it was quite obvious that Page was reveling in the news.

Other takeaways: The two-week old Google+ network has more than 10 million users and these users share more than 1 billion items per day. About 550,000 devices powered by Android are activated daily. Google is a toothbrush.

And this was just the beginning, according to Page who said that there are “more opportunities for Google today than ever before, because, believe it or not, we are still in the very early stages of what we want to do.”

The Wall Street Journal wraps up the numbers, reporting that Google posted a quarterly profit of $2.51 billion, or $7.68 a share, up from $1.84 billion, or $5.71 a share, a year earlier. Total revenue was $9.03, up from $6.82 billion a year ago. [WSJ, Business Insider, Digits/WSJ, LiveBlog/WSJ, TechCrunch, Google]

Cyberwar Plan Has Focus on Deterrence: A Pentagon official said that a “foreign intelligence service” stole 24,000 files from the Department of Defense last March and that a weapons system may need to be partly redesigned as a result of the breach. The admission came as the Pentagon announced a cyberwar strategy, calling for the Defense Department to “treat cyberspace as an operational domain to organize, train and equip.”

Marine Gen. James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the strategy will shift cyber efforts from primarily defensive to one based on deterrence that could involve anything from diplomatic efforts to an attack with real-world weapons. [Washington Post, WSJ]

Now, Even Granny’s Fuzzy Slippers are Texting You: The Wall Street Journal has a hilarious, scary story on how start-ups are installing wireless technology into everything from slippers, where you are pinged if the sensors in grandma’s shoes detect some unsteady walking, to diapers, where….you get the picture. [WSJ]

Internet Use Affects Memory: There is a new report out there that measures the impact that search engines have on memory. A collaboration between scientists at Harvard, Columbia and..um…the New York Times has the details. [New York Times, Science]

A Real-Life Android: A Taiwanese hacker has assembled a robot resembling Google’s almost-iconic green Android logo. He used a trash can for the body. [Gizmodo]

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AllThingsD.com’s Peter Kafka looks at Spotify’s new online music service, including what it will need to succeed among users.

News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch will go before UK’s Parliament to answer questions on the News of the World hacking scandal. News Corp. is the parent company of The Wall Street Journal.

WSJ Personal Technology Senior Editor Walt Mossberg reviews the Toshiba Thrive, the latest entry in the tablet market.

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Details remain few. According to the Journal the new Amazon tablet reportedly will have a nine-inch screen. It will run on the Android platform. And it is expected to launch somewhere around October. On the surface, this is not much to base any buying decision. But if Amazon’s past success in e-commerce and e-readers mean something, then the tablet’s launch date could give pause to those already planning to buy an iPad.

Here are some things to look for:

The first real alternative to the app store: Long before Apple’s App Store appeared, Amazon took a risk on e-commerce in the 1990s and over the years has defined how Americans shop. When the Amazon tablet launches this Fall, it will have something no iPad competitor has had: A built-in online store of digitized books and music, plus streaming and downloadable movies courtesy of its Amazon Prime service.

Amazon also has its own App Store for selling Android apps. Apple filed a preliminary injunction against Amazon to prevent its use of the term “app store.” It was denied by a federal judge last week.

Combine this wealth of digital content with Amazon’s trademark user interface and the thought of substituting the iPad (and its App Store experience) for an Android-based tablet may not seem as daunting as before.

Shopping: Forrester’s Sarah Rotman Epps says that online shopping has proven to be one of tablet owners’ favorite activities. “Tablet commerce could be bigger than mobile commerce,” she said, but the retail aspects of the iPad experience have been underdeveloped. “When you think about how much better Amazon could make it for shopping, including apps, it gives you an idea of what their tablet could offer,” she said.

The cloud: Apple may have made a splash with its recent cloud launch, but Amazon’s experience in storing content online is deeper, said Epps. Amazon could couple its tablet announcement with its cloud service and “paint a picture of how Amazon can allow you to have more music, and more music and more books than what you ever had on one device,“ she said.

Kindle’s success: The company has already proven its ability to move hardware. Amazon was not the first to sell an e-reader, but since  Kindle’s 2007 release, the company has used its devices, software and digital content to shape the e-reading experience (and change publishing).  Two weeks ago, the Pew Internet and American Life Project published findings that e-reader ownership reached double digits in May 2011.

Pricing: Analysts at Robert W. Baird are predicting that Amazon will extend its ‘razor and blade’ from its Kindles to tablets, keeping its pricing of its hardware (the razors) slightly below cost, in order to guarantee sales of its digital content (the blades).

In this case, they predict that Amazon will price the tablet to stay competitive with the Nook Color e-reader from Barnes and Noble. The Nook Color runs on Android and has built-in tablet-like functionality. It is priced at $249.  That’s 50% less than the cheapest new iPad, the analysts note.

Price is going to be a huge factor, said Epps, who said that Amazon should sell the tablet at a loss and, “do what they did with the Kindle which destroyed Sony’s e-reader.”

On the other hand…If the Amazon tablet comes at a $250 price tag, this brings into question what additional functionality it can offer.  Unlike the iPad, Amazon’s tablet will not have a camera, according to the Journal’s story. MG Siegler of TechCrunch had more doubts, asking, “Can Amazon really make a 9-inch multi-touch screen color tablet for that cheap?  Unless it’s an absolute piece of cr–, that seems unlikely.”

Of course, everything surrounding the Amazon tablet is speculation right now. Not so for the iPad with its user base of 19.5 million (as of the end of March),  its 90,000  iPad-only apps and its $499 price tag for the starting model.

But those on the fence may still want to wait and see what Amazon’s expected lower-price (and lower-tech) tablet has to offer.

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Rick Wilking/Reuters

Amazon to Offer Tablet Computer: Amazon is expected to launch a tablet computer by this October, the Wall Street Journal reports. The tablet will feature a nine-inch screen and run on a version of the Android operating system. The Journal writes that the “potentially vast markets” of digital goods are leading many companies, such as Amazon, to leave the cozy confines of one particular segment for other fronts.

The Journal says that Amazon faces a tough road against Apple in the tablet market. Apple has sold 19.5 million iPads since introducing the device last year, as of the end of March.

Tech Crunch says that it is Google, not Apple,  that should worry. Google is planning its own tablet for later in the year, but the “consumer ease-of-use” that Amazon is expected to offer–particularly in the app and media buying experience–could beat anything built by Google. [WSJ, TechCrunch]

This Time for Real: Spotify to Launch U.S. Music Service: London-based Spotify will launch in the U.S. on Thursday. The music streaming service has been popular in Europe for some time, but two years of negotiations with record labels slowed Spotify’s debut in the U.S.

The service will offer a three-tier membership plan ranging from a free, ad-supported version to a $10 a month premium service that offers both computer and mobile phone access and higher quality audio.

The New York Times reports that Spotify faces a number of challenges from companies like Rhapsody, Rdio and MOG as well as new cloud services from Apple, Google, and Amazon. The Times also reports that the company lost $26.5 million in 2009 and has yet to report financial performance for last year. [WSJ, New York Times]

Amazon vs. California: Amazon is going to push a California voter initiative to eliminate sales tax for sellers with a small physical footprint in the state. The New York Times reports that big players are already lining up, setting the stage for the first big tax battle of the Internet era. [New York Times]

Is Facebook Worth $100 Billion? Some believe that Facebook will trade at $100 billion valuation if the company goes public next year. The Wall Street Journal talks to a cross section of people, from Main Street to Wall Street, to get their take on what Facebook is worth. [WSJ, Digits/WSJ]

Google to Announce Earnings: Google will share its second quarter 2001 financial results today at 4:30 ET/1:30 PT.  Barron’s reports that a couple analysts are predicting that the company may miss estimates. [Google, Barron's]

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An important but often-overlooked part of the argument: Most of Facebook’s users are outside the U.S., and that appears to be where the social network’s growth is as well.

Last week Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social network was at 750 million active users. With the number of active users in the U.S. hovering at 150 million, that means that 80% of the users are outside the country.

The folks at Facebook know this, and they’re increasingly directing efforts toward international growth – for example with a mobile app released yesterday called Facebook for Every Phone.

Built to work on any Java-enabled phone—more than 2,500 different phones according to the official announcement—the app aims to improve the experience for people with older or less powerful cellphones and pricey data plans. That’s just the sort of mobile user found commonly in developing countries, where many people have bypassed PCs and use mainly cellphones to connect online.

Underscoring the motives behind Facebook for Every Phone, the company said that it had signed agreements with 20 different carriers to provide free data access to customers using the app for the first 90 days of its availability. The carriers involved service the U.K. and Germany, countries that host a massive and mature user base, but also Egypt, Brazil, and the Philippines, countries where Facebook usage, while high, is still showing double-digit growth.

Meanwhile, the U.S., with 48.95% Facebook penetration, has shown signs of slowing.

The blog “Inside Facebook” reports that the mobile app, which allows for popular Facebook features such as News Feed and Photos, was designed to be less data intensive, keeping costs lower for mobile phone customers. The blog also mentions that the app was made possible by Facebook’s acquisition of Israel-based Snaptu in March.

The app also could allow Facebook to expand to more users. Users can import their phone contacts into Facebook’s Friend Finder, allowing the social network to suggest friends and prompt app owners to send invites to people not yet a part of Facebook.

It can be easy to ignore Facebook’s latest announcement because it ignores the power-user with the kitted-out smartphone and a 1GB data plan. But as ReadWriteWeb reminded its readers, a “principal of business is ‘go where the people are.’ When it comes to world wide mobile use, feature phones are where the people are.”

You think 750 million is a lot of people? If efforts like this succeed, we soon could be talking 1 billion.

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Today, Nimble Storage, the developer of converged storage and backup solutions, announced that it has closed a $25 million series D round, adding to the $16 million series C it closed in November of last year. The round was led by Artis Capital Management, with contribution from existing investors, Accel Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia Capital. The infusion of capital will be employed to expand into international markets, support existing growth, and is expected to bring the company to profitability.

Founded by former Data Domain and NetApp executives Varun Mehta and Umesh Maheshwari, Nimble Storage has been selling its data storage and backup appliances like hot cakes, primarily because it is offering enterprise storage to small and medium sized enterprises that may not be able to afford IT teams — and those who don’t want to deal with a giant mess of servers. Nimble’s suite of four appliances combine storage, backup and disaster-recovery into a single solution, with each box offering different levels of raw storage capacity (up to 24 terabytes), flash capacity and connectivity speed.

Nimble’s solutions offer flash-accelerated primary storage performance, instant backup and restores, application-integrated data protection, and offsite disaster recovery — all from a single iSCI system — effectively lowering equipment costs and streamlining storage management.

And what’s more? In March, Nimble Storage was named to The Wall Street Journal’s list of “The Next Big Thing”, so you know it has to be good. $41 million raised in the last 7 months doesn’t hurt either, even though that’s exactly how much Color raised. Look out!

For more on Nimble Storage’s backup and storage solutions, click here.

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Amazon’s rumored tablet computer will be introduced before October, according to a report.

The tablet, which would vie with Apple’s iPad 2, among other products, will be one of three new hardware products from Amazon coming in the third quarter, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The other devices are a touch-screen version of the Kindle and an “improved and cheaper adaptation” of the current Kindle, which sells for $139. (Amazon on Wednesday also cut the price of its Kindle 3G, which works off AT&T’s wireless network, from $189 to $139.) Though the report states that the tablet won’t have a camera, no further details were provided.

Rumors of an Amazon tablet have circulated since May. In particular, Peter Rojas of Gdgt speculated that an Android-based tablet made from Samsung was on the way.

Such a device might make sense since the market for ereaders seems to be splitting between single-function devices like the Kindle and the iPad. Amazon rival Barnes & Noble is attempting to address both segments of the market with its Nook Color — whose latest iteration includes support for Android 2.2 (Froyo) and Adobe Flash along with an app store with hundreds of apps — and Simple Touch, a $139 device that competes head-to-head with Kindle.

Amazon reps could not be reached for comment on the report.

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Of course, this news has been rumored for much of this year. No less than Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has hinted at the possibility in recent months. But today’s report brings some tangible details for the first time. And that’s why the conclusion (and title) WSJ has drawn is surprising. “Amazon to Battle Apple iPad With Tablet”, is the headline. But as I read it, this tablet — at least the first iteration — won’t be much competition for the iPad at all. Instead, it could step in and own a market that Google has failed to secure: Android tablets.

Let’s consider the information out there. Amazon will enter this space for the first time this fall. Their tablet will apparently have a 9-inch screen (comparable to the iPad’s 9.7-inch one) and will run an un-specified version of Android. It apparently won’t have a camera. And it won’t be designed by Amazon. Instead, they’ll outsource both the design and manufacturing. In other words, it’s probably going to be cheap — at least in build quality, if not in price.

Why is Amazon outsourcing the entire development? Likely because they wanted to get the tablet done as quickly as possible. WSJ also reports that Amazon is working on another version that they’re designing themselves, but that will not be ready until next year. So this first version will be a sort of placeholder until their own version is ready.

The only way this sounds like it can compete with the iPad in any way is if it’s extremely cheap. Like $299 or less cheap. But can Amazon really make a 9-inch multi-touch screen color tablet for that cheap? Unless it’s an absolute piece of crap, that seems unlikely. There’s a reason why all other tablet manufacturers are having problems getting their tablets down to even the key $499 price point. Apple can do this because they have years of experience — and most importantly, component deals — thanks to the iPod, iPhone and other devices. Others do not. Amazon does not. Sure, they have the Kindle. But a full-fledged tablet is a whole different ballgame.

So either Amazon releases a tablet that is around the same price as the iPad — and potentially more expensive — or they sell each one at a huge loss. As they’ve proven with their digital content stores, such as the MP3 one, they’re willing to do this. But in hardware, they haven’t done this with the Kindle. Margins are thin, but the device still generates revenue. To beat the iPad in price, I have to believe that Amazon would have to take a large loss on each device sold.

Maybe they are willing to do that. After all, Apple and Amazon are in many ways the opposite. Apple pushes digital content in order to sell devices. Amazon could now be pushing devices to sell digital content. But if that really is the battle, Apple has the winning hand there. The margins are much better on Apple’s hardware sales than on Amazon’s content sales. Amazon would not be able to afford subsidizing their hardware indefinitely.

But even if Amazon is able to release a relatively cheap tablet this fall, the major question will remain: why would I buy this instead of an iPad? Amazon’s tablet will have access to the same apps that current Android tablets do — and very few of those are optimized for, or work well on tablet devices. And what happens if Apple surprises everyone with a “Retina” display iPad before the end of the year? We first reported on this being Apple’s plan back in February. The latest word is that such a device may be delayed a bit by manufacturing issues, but it’s still in the plans for this year. We’ll see.

They key point is that Amazon’s first tablet, any way you slice it, sounds like just as much of a threat to the iPad as all the other Android tablets have been so far. That is to say, no threat at all. Instead, it will likely be more of a threat to their own Kindle device (it’s hard to make the “this device is no good for reading” argument out of one side of your mouth while saying the opposite out of the other). And much more so, it will be a huge threat to Google.

Back in March, when Amazon released their own Android Appstore, I made the case for why Amazon now had to release their own Android-powered devices. Simply put, the process to install the Android appstore is way too complicated, Amazon needs devices they can ship with the store pre-installed. And more importantly, their stores pre-installed. As in, any device they ship is going to be filled with Amazon to the brim. That includes the ability to sign in to your Amazon Prime account the buy things with one click.

When that happens, Amazon will have an Android tablet that is more compelling than any other Android tablet on the market on day one. There are plenty of whispers of Google planning their own “Nexus” tablet for later this year when the Ice Cream Sandwich variety of Android is ready to go, but the consumer ease-of-use that Amazon can offer will likely trump anything Google puts out there.

That’s why Google should be scared shitless of this Amazon tablet. Thanks to the “openness” of Android, Google has handed Amazon the keys to the Android kingdom. Amazon is going to launch a tablet that runs Android, but it will be fully Amazon’d. It will use Amazon’s Appstore, it will use Amazon movies, it will use Amazon books, it will use Amazon music, etc. Google will have no control over this, even though it will be the seminal Android tablet. That would be terrifying for any brand.

Sure, you could argue that an Amazon Android tablet will still benefit Google because it will lead to more Google searches. But who says that will be the case? If I were Microsoft, I’d go all-in when negotiating with my Seattle technology neighbor to get a Bing search deal done for this new tablet.

Google has been able to control Android so far while keeping it “open” because they offer carrots to partners to stay with them for most services. Those carrots are Google apps, Google branding, early access to new Android builds, etc. But Amazon likely won’t care about those things. They could be the first major player to use Android that Google has absolutely no control over.

This is going to be fascinating to watch. All I know is that if I were Apple, I wouldn’t be too concerned by this Amazon tablet. Next year, maybe. But not now. But if I were Google, I’d put down those Android carrots I’ve been offering up and go find my stick.

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The e-reader market is growing quickly, and the Kindle’s aggressive pricing has appealed to consumers. It’s not surprising that Amazon is introducing a new version. But Amazon’s entry into the full-color, backlit tablet market, which is also expected to happen before October, presents a potentially significant disruption.

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As we reported on July 8, Apple’s iPad is way ahead of its competitors in the tablet space. But counting e-readers as tablets, Amazon ranks second, outpacing every full-color tablet except the iPad.

Apple and Amazon, the two companies at the top of the tablet heap, both have vast libraries of books, music, movies, and other media easily available on their devices. Amazon, as a dominant online media retailer, poses a threat to Apple’s iTunes ecosystem. A compelling full-color tablet offering Amazon’s wealth of content could certainly compete for the media appetites of tablet users.

Citing people familiar with the product, The WSJ reports that the tablet will have a “roughly nine-inch screen,” putting it in the same device category as Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad.

We reported in April on rumors that this device would be manufactured by Samsung, which fits with today’s report that Amazon is outsourcing production to an Asian manufacturer.

Other Android tablets, such as Motorola’s Xoom and Samsung’s Galaxy tab, have not sold enough units to compete with the iPad, but Amazon’s strong position as a media outlet would be a killer feature. Combined with an aggressive price, this long-rumored tablet could test Apple’s vision of what consumers want out of their touchable devices.

Discuss

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The e-reader market is growing quickly, and the Kindle’s aggressive pricing has appealed to consumers. It’s not surprising that Amazon is introducing a new version. But Amazon’s entry into the full-color, backlit tablet market, which is also expected to happen before October, presents a potentially significant disruption.

Sponsor

As we reported on July 8, Apple’s iPad is way ahead of its competitors in the tablet space. But counting e-readers as tablets, Amazon ranks second, outpacing every full-color tablet except the iPad.

Apple and Amazon, the two companies at the top of the tablet heap, both have vast libraries of books, music, movies, and other media easily available on their devices. Amazon, as a dominant online media retailer, poses a threat to Apple’s iTunes ecosystem. A compelling full-color tablet offering Amazon’s wealth of content could certainly compete for the media appetites of tablet users.

Citing people familiar with the product, The WSJ reports that the tablet will have a “roughly nine-inch screen,” putting it in the same device category as Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad.

We reported in April on rumors that this device would be manufactured by Samsung, which fits with today’s report that Amazon is outsourcing production to an Asian manufacturer.

Other Android tablets, such as Motorola’s Xoom and Samsung’s Galaxy tab, have not sold enough units to compete with the iPad, but Amazon’s strong position as a media outlet would be a killer feature. Combined with an aggressive price, this long-rumored tablet could test Apple’s vision of what consumers want out of their touchable devices.

Discuss

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Location-based service Foursquare is adding a new marketing component to its popular mobile apps.

Soon, the startup will be incorporating daily deals from partners such as Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt Groupe and others into its product.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley stated the company would be passing on daily coupons from these marketing partners to the service’s users — and taking a cut of the revenue along the way.

“We are trying to see if our targeting works and how users will react,” Crowley told the Journal.

Currently, Foursquare partners directly with around half a million merchants, many of them small and medium-sized businesses, who use the service as a marketing medium. Through these accounts, merchants are able to deliver specials, including discounts and freebies, to users who check in at their locations.

However, merchants don’t pay for the privilege, and Foursquare makes no money from these merchant-initiated specials.

Foursquare recently passed the 10 million user milestone. The startup also raised a $50 million Series C just last month.

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Location-based service Foursquare is adding a new marketing component to its popular mobile apps.

Soon, the startup will be incorporating daily deals from partners such as Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt Groupe and others into its product.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Foursquare co-founder and CEO Dennis Crowley stated the company would be passing on daily coupons from these marketing partners to the service’s users — and taking a cut of the revenue along the way.

“We are trying to see if our targeting works and how users will react,” Crowley told the Journal.

Currently, Foursquare partners directly with around half a million merchants, many of them small and medium-sized businesses, who use the service as a marketing medium. Through these accounts, merchants are able to deliver specials, including discounts and freebies, to users who check in at their locations.

However, merchants don’t pay for the privilege, and Foursquare makes no money from these merchant-initiated specials.

Foursquare recently passed the 10 million user milestone. The startup also raised a $50 million Series C just last month.

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Eager to hop on the tablet trend, the publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News plans to sell discounted Android tablets with preloaded content.

The announcement, first reported in Adweek, will cost the publisher — Philadelphia Media Network (PMN) — somewhere in the six figures. In exchange, PMN will get data on how consumers are interacting with the tablet version of the newspapers.

Pricing for the program hasn’t been determined. The publisher plans to launch with 2,000 tablets in the second half of August. A PMN rep says the brand of device hasn’t been decided yet. Initially, the tablets will be loaded with the Philly.com app, as well as digital versions of the two newspapers, which now cost $2.99 per week.

The move is perhaps the boldest attempt by a newspaper publisher to get ahead of the “tabletization” of the category. While there have been iPad versions of The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and The New York Times since last year, most newspapers were initially slow to embrace the trend. Meanwhile, a survey by Prosper Mobile Insights this month found 28.2% of respondents have already replaced their newspaper with a smartphone or tablet.

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Eager to hop on the tablet trend, the publisher of The Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News plans to sell discounted Android tablets with preloaded content.

The announcement, first reported in Adweek, will cost the publisher — Philadelphia Media Network (PMN) — somewhere in the six figures. In exchange, PMN will get data on how consumers are interacting with the tablet version of the newspapers.

Pricing for the program hasn’t been determined. The publisher plans to launch with 2,000 tablets in the second half of August. A PMN rep says the brand of device hasn’t been decided yet. Initially, the tablets will be loaded with the Philly.com app, as well as digital versions of the two newspapers, which now cost $2.99 per week.

The move is perhaps the boldest attempt by a newspaper publisher to get ahead of the “tabletization” of the category. While there have been iPad versions of The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and The New York Times since last year, most newspapers were initially slow to embrace the trend. Meanwhile, a survey by Prosper Mobile Insights this month found 28.2% of respondents have already replaced their newspaper with a smartphone or tablet.

More About: android tablets, ipad, iPad 2, newspapers, Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer

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That was Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in an interview last year with The Wall Street Journal. At the time, Microsoft was on the verge of releasing their first Windows Phone 7 devices, and knew their best hope in the market would be to go after Android — the same OS which quickly ran Windows Mobile into extinction. In the months that have followed, right or wrong, it looks like Microsoft is slowly but surely forcing Google’s OEM partners for Android to agree with this stance.

The reality is that for an increasing number of these partners now, Android is not free. It doesn’t require the licensing fees that Windows Phone does, but it does require a patent fee. A fee paid to Microsoft, not Google, mind you.

If Microsoft is able to convince (or force) Samsung to pay this fee as well, it’s likely lights out for Android as a free OS, as Tom Krazit rightly points out on paidContent today. And with Microsoft and now HP offering their own rival mobile OSes backed by a vast array of patent protection, some of these OEM partners may begin to think twice about their firm Android commitments. At least, that’s undoubtedly Microsoft’s hope. Android as a free mobile OS that rivals iOS in terms of functionality is an unbelievable value proposition. But Android as an OS that requires you to pay Microsoft for each unit shipped is less so.

Google’s last great chance to save Android in this regard may have been the Nortel patent purse — 6,000+ patents spanning mobile and wireless innovation. Unfortunately, the search giant lost the rights to those patents in a bidding war with their rivals. As a result — pending government inquiries surrounding the antitrust implications of all of this — Android remains very vulnerable. Perhaps more so than ever.

But the story of just how Google failed to secure these patents — which many had assumed they’d win — may be even more fascinating.

This Canadian court document (PDF), made public on Wednesday and linked to by Krazit in his piece, details exactly how Google lost the Nortel patents. The entire document is extremely long, but most of the good parts are in the earlier parts — aside from the documents later on in which Google’s name as the winner of the bidding is crossed off in favor of “Rockstar Bidco”, the name of the consortium made up of Google’s rivals that won.

As everyone knows, Google kicked things off by putting down the “stalking horse” bid on April 4. This bid of $900 million ensured that the auction would take place, and put Google in the driver’s seat for it. This bid led many to believe that Google would eventually prevail as the winner of the Nortel patents. In fact, many inside of Google believed they would win as well, we’re told. The company even did a blog post outlining why they were bidding.

As Kent Walker, a Google Senior Vice President and General Console, wrote in a post entitled “Patents and innovation“:

Today, Nortel selected our bid as the “stalking-horse bid,” which is the starting point against which others will bid prior to the auction. If successful, we hope this portfolio will not only create a disincentive for others to sue Google, but also help us, our partners and the open source community—which is integrally involved in projects like Android and Chrome—continue to innovate.

Google chose to use the name “Ranger” for their bidding.

Meanwhile, others interested in the patents began to organize themselves for the auction which would take place at the end of June. At the same time, the U.S. government began looking into the bidding to determine how the outcomes might affect the mobile and patent ecosystem. The DoJ quickly determined that a Google win would be okay, but they weren’t as sure about Apple, apparently.

At the same time, Microsoft began to complain that the auction could result in a termination of the existing licensing agreements they had on the Nortel patents. And while they never specifically mentioned Google, it was pretty clear that they did not want Google winning — such a victory would eliminate at least some of Microsoft’s patent leverage over Android.

But this complaining was odd since we had heard that the existing licensing agreement on the Nortel patents would have to be honored by any winning bidder. So what was Microsoft complaining about? At least some believe Microsoft was just playing mind games at this point — mind games which would later come into play.

Ultimately, four different parties were chosen by Nortel to be allowed to make bids on the patents, in addition to Ranger (Google), the stalking horse winner: Apple, Rockstar Bidco (a consortium — more on that in a bit), Intel, and Norpax (an affiliate of RPX Corporation).

The auction commenced on June 27 at 9:15 AM in New York. Intel made the starting bid — it’s not clear what that bid was, except that is was over the $900 million initial Google bid. After Intel, everyone was told that the minimum bid increments would be $5 million. All of the remaining bidders made bids.

The Nortel group looked them over and determined to raise the threshold for the bid increments to $50 million from $5 million — thus beginning round two of the auction. This time, only three bids were received. Norpax did not bid. A new leading bid was declared (unknown) and Nortel decided to up the increments to $100 million. Because Norpax had not bid, they were removed from the auction and the number of participants fell to four: Ranger (Google), Apple, Intel, and Rockstar Bidco.

It was around this time that Google began making odd bids, based around mathematical constants. The Nortel group was apparently confused by the seemingly random numbers Google was bidding. Reports have stated that they weren’t sure if Google was “extremely confident or bored”. Others believed Google was trying to confuse their rival bidders.

Still, while Nortel may have not known what to think, Google remained in the race.

By the fifth round of bidding, it was Rockstar Bidco that decided not to submit a bid. This brought the group of bidders down to three: Google, Apple, and Intel.

Then something really interesting happened.

Following Rockstar’s seeming exit, Apple asked Nortel for permission to talk to the group about a possible partnership. This request was granted. Following these discussions, Apple decided they wanted to partner with Rockstar and adopt their name and transaction structure.

Essentially, Apple decided to stake the Rockstar group in this high-stakes poker game.

If you’ve seen Casino Royale (the remake, not the original campy version), you’ll recall the scene where James Bond loses all his money attempting to call what he believes to be a Le Chiffre bluff. He is forced to exit the game, but then Felix Leiter, the CIA operative also in the game, tells Bond he’ll stake him since he’s clearly the stronger player. Again, that’s more or less what Apple did with this maneuver to Google’s Le Chiffre.

After the sixth round of bidding, Intel indicated it too was withdrawing. At this point, the two remaning groups were allowed to discuss partnership opportunities with all of those who had withdrawn. By the end of the eight round, Ranger (Google) partnered with Intel.

It was now down to Ranger (Google + Intel) versus Apple (staking Rockstar). For the next 10 rounds, the two sides traded bids in $100 million increments.

By the 19th round, Apple (Rockstar) presented a $4.5 billion bid. Ranger (Google) asked for permission to take some time to think about making another bid, this was granted. They ultimately decided not to continue. Apple (in partnership with Rockstar) was declared the winner.

While much of the press after the auction focused on the Rockstar group’s win, the court documents make it very clear that it was actually Apple that won in partnership with Rockstar. Apple was the only group that had not dropped out. Again, they staked the Rockstar group to ensure a victory for the stronger player. Why was Rockstar the stronger player? Because of the other companies involved. RIM, EMC, Ericsson, Sony, and yes, Microsoft.

All of those groups together had the cash and clout to break Google’s will. And with Microsoft, there was clearly the desire.

But why on Earth was Microsoft doing bidding on patents they already had licensing rights to? That’s not yet clear. But one has to assume that they simply did not want Google winning them — at all.

Even if Microsoft maintained licensing rights to the patents, a Google win would ensure that it would be a lot harder to sue Android and its OEM partners for other patent infringements. So it sure looks like Microsoft teamed up with longtime enemy Apple to ensure victory.

And if the U.S. and/or Canadian governments don’t now either block this result (which seems unlikely given that they approved the bidders beforehand) or force fairly drastic changes (such as they did in the Novell patent case) — which Google will have to lobby heavily for — Android seems to be in some very serious trouble.

Things didn’t ultimately end well for Le Chiffre, remember.

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“Oh we were underpriced,” Schmidt joked, before remarking that he didn’t actually know whether or not we are presently in a bubble.

“On the general question of bubble, in the first place you don’t know it’s a bubble until the bubble ends, by definition. The rule I set for myself 10 years ago was that if the press calls it a bubble then I’d pay attention, and let me report that the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and the Economist have all written articles saying that it’s a bubble.

So you have a couple choices A) The revenue growth possibility on these platforms is so large that you could get the kind of revenue acceleration that justifies the valuations. B) You have a liquidity squeeze where you don’t have enough shares, and they’re artificially high.”

When a journalist pointed out that it sounded like Schmidt was “unconvinced either way,” he said that it’s difficult to know the whether valuations are fair until a significant amount of shares hit the market, usually when employee lockups expire, typically after six months, “You won’t really know the answers until 2012,” he said.

The only clear thing at the moment, Schmidt said, was that real estate values will go up. “Young people who need houses will go into areas of scarce housing resources and there will be competition for houses and housing prices will go up. So for them it’s not a bubble it’s actually a house.”

On what effect if any the seven years of market experience have had on his perspective on Google’s IPO, Schmidt said, “Google went public at a very different time, at what people thought was an unbelievably high valuation, and let me point out that we’ve never traded below our opening price.”

When pressed again by a reporter for a yes or no answer, Schmidt gave the following humble reply, ” I don’t think it’s my job to call the market. It’s a mistake for me to say what the market should think … I’m not a brilliant investor. If I were a brilliant investor then maybe I’d have some status. I’m a computer scientist.” … A computer scientist with a $7 billion net worth.

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Originally posted at The Digital Home

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While the 8-megapixel camera has been reported by numerous sources, the design itself is still in question. Last month, for example, Bloomberg said the new iPhone would “closely resemble” the iPhone 4. And in May, This is my Next… reported the iPhone would sport a teardrop-shaped design. What’s really going on?

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What’s going on is that no one knows. New design, same design, thinner, lighter, teardrop-shaped? Everything’s in full “rumor” territory until Apple CEO Steve Jobs steps on stage and holds up the new device for the world to see.

That being said, when comparing all the reports in aggregate, some trends can be seen.

Biggest Rumors So Far

For starters, in the Journal report, an unnamed component supplier stated that Apple’s sales estimates for the next iPhone were aggressive – Apple told them to prepare for 25 million units by year end. But two other sources cautioned that the new iPhone is “complicated and difficult to assemble,” which could prove challenging for Hon Hai, the global assembler for Apple products. And what makes a phone complicated to assemble? Hon Hai Chairman Terry Gou said it was because some of the devices it handles are “so thin,” explains The Journal, referring to something Gou said at the company’s annual meeting in June.

For what it’s worth, the iPhone 5 (if that’s what it will be called) described by The Journal could confirm both the This is my Next… report of a teardrop-shaped phone as well as an earlier BGR report which states that the next iPhone will not be “an upgraded iPhone 4 as had been previously rumored.” Instead, said BGR, it will sport a “radical new case design.”

At the time, BGR didn’t have any news on what that case design would be, but referenced the This is my Next… blog post as one possibility.  And Joshua Topolsky of This is my Next.., formerly of Engadget, had reported all the way back in January that the next iPhone would be “completely redesigned,” according to his sources.

While it’s entirely possible that all the sources referenced are just the machinations of Apple PR, the trend does seem to point to a new look for the new iPhone. At least, that’s what we’re hoping for, especially considering all the drama over “antennagate” with the iPhone 4. Oh, had you all forgotten that? But of course the new iPhone will be redesigned – Apple doesn’t want to go through that again!

Image credit, mockup: This is My Next…

Discuss

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Apple’s next-generation iPhone will launch in the third quarter. And the company plans to ship 25 million units by year’s end, according to a report.

Citing “people familiar with the situation,” The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has placed orders with suppliers in Taiwan for some of the next iPhone’s key components. The new version of the iPhone will include an 8-megapixel camera (compared to the current 5-megapixel) and will be thinner and lighter than the iPhone 4.

The article also cites a source who says the new iPhone will use Qualcomm’s baseband chips. The current iPhone uses memory chips from Samsung and baseband chips from Infineon Technologies, according to a report from iSuppli Corp.

Apple is telling suppliers to produce enough of the phones to meet a goal of 25 million units by year’s end. By comparison, Apple said it sold 18.65 million iPhones in the fiscal second quarter, which ended March 26. The initial units will ship to assembler Hon Hai in August.

This new information jibes with other information that has leaked out about the release. Last month, Morgan Stanley analyst Katy Huberty sent a note to clients stating that the next iPhone would begin production in August. Rumors about the new iPhone also surfaced last month, including one from Boy Genius Report that cited a source saying the iPhone 5 would sport a “radical new case design.” Bloomberg also reported that the model would have an 8-megapixel camera and an AS5 processor and would be available in September.

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Twitter’s valuation has almost doubled in the last seven months, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal says Twitter is busy raising hundreds of millions of dollars, at a valuation as high as $7 billion. In December, the same company was valued at just $3.7 billion in a $200 million round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Why the increase in valuation? Twitter, once a site without much of a business plan, is now a social media staple with a growing number of revenue streams.

Twitter introduced promoted tweets and trends last year, which proved to be the company’s first notable revenue source. Recently, eMarketer predicted that Twitter would triple its advertising revenue to $150 million in 2011. Last month we learned that Twitter plans to introduce promoted tweets into users’ timelines by the fall.

In October, it announced that it would develop a self-serve tool that would also allow small businesses to get in on the Twitter advertising game.

As its peers in the social world — like LinkedIn — go public, Twitter is instead focusing on strengthening its executive team and building a solid advertising business.

The upcoming platform will function a bit like Google AdWords for Twitter. If the WSJ‘s report is accurate (the paper sites an unnamed “person familiar with the matter”), it looks like investors consider the platform to have more in common with Google’s product — earning potential.

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Twitter’s valuation has almost doubled in the last seven months, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal says Twitter is busy raising hundreds of millions of dollars, at a valuation as high as $7 billion. In December, the same company was valued at just $3.7 billion in a $200 million round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Why the increase in valuation? Twitter, once a site without much of a business plan, is now a social media staple with a growing number of revenue streams.

Twitter introduced promoted tweets and trends last year, which proved to be the company’s first notable revenue source. Recently, eMarketer predicted that Twitter would triple its advertising revenue to $150 million in 2011. Last month we learned that Twitter plans to introduce promoted tweets into users’ timelines by the fall.

In October, it announced that it would develop a self-serve tool that would also allow small businesses to get in on the Twitter advertising game.

As its peers in the social world — like LinkedIn — go public, Twitter is instead focusing on strengthening its executive team and building a solid advertising business.

The upcoming platform will function a bit like Google AdWords for Twitter. If the WSJ‘s report is accurate (the paper sites an unnamed “person familiar with the matter”), it looks like investors consider the platform to have more in common with Google’s product — earning potential.

More About: advertising, funding, twitter

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Twitter’s valuation has almost doubled in the last seven months, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.

The Journal says Twitter is busy raising hundreds of millions of dollars, at a valuation as high as $7 billion. In December, the same company was valued at just $3.7 billion in a $200 million round of funding led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers.

Why the increase in valuation? Twitter, once a site without much of a business plan, is now a social media staple with a growing number of revenue streams.

Twitter introduced promoted tweets and trends last year, which proved to be the company’s first notable revenue source. Recently, eMarketer predicted that Twitter would triple its advertising revenue to $150 million in 2011. Last month we learned that Twitter plans to introduce promoted tweets into users’ timelines by the fall.

In October, it announced that it would develop a self-serve tool that would also allow small businesses to get in on the Twitter advertising game.

As its peers in the social world — like LinkedIn — go public, Twitter is instead focusing on strengthening its executive team and building a solid advertising business.

The upcoming platform will function a bit like Google AdWords for Twitter. If the WSJ‘s report is accurate (the paper sites an unnamed “person familiar with the matter”), it looks like investors consider the platform to have more in common with Google’s product — earning potential.

More About: advertising, funding, twitter

For more Social Media coverage:

• Follow Mashable Social Media on Twitter
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As about 150 turtles crossed JFK airport’s runways on Wednesday and delayed several flights, a Twitter account emerged to crack jokes from the turtles’ perspective. The account, agreed publications from the L.A. Times to the Huffington Post, was worth a good laugh.

Its creator, 26-year-old digital media director Noah Chestnut (right) tells Mashable that it was also a good case study for creating engagement on Twitter.

“This was an opportunity to really see the viral moment and direct it to an extent, as well as just learn about how people engage with it,” says Chestnut. In his work at a public affairs and communications firm Hamilton Strategies, he typically handles less viral topics.

Throughout the past two days, he tweeted as @JFKTurtles and earned Twitter attention from the giant followings of Josh Groban, Katie Couric and ABC World News. Project Runway judge Nina Garcia made a runway joke too.

Eventually #JFKTurtles started to become a hashtag for the incident, with major news organizations like the Wall Street Journal and NBC using the handle in headlines that they posted to Twitter. And all sorts of media began referring to the “JFK Turtles” when discussing the story.

About 80% of the 8,000 or so people who followed the account were women, Chestnut says. And 60% of them were between the ages of 22 and 33. He has not lost many followers despite tweeting frequently. “Engagement is good and constant tweeting isn’t bad,” he says.

He also found the oft-cited optimal time for tweeting, between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., to hold true for the turtles. During that time accounts like Audi, Microsoft and Hotels.com tweeted at him.

But the biggest lesson, he said, might be that creating an amusing or beneficial account premise is more worthwhile than nitpicking specific social media messages.

“People weren’t as amused by what I was writing as they were with the idea that the turtles were tweeting,” he said.

More About: JFKTurtles, twitter, twitter tips

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As about 150 turtles crossed JFK airport’s runways on Wednesday and delayed several flights, a Twitter account emerged to crack jokes from the turtles’ perspective. The account, agreed publications from the L.A. Times to the Huffington Post, was worth a good laugh.

Its creator, 26-year-old digital media director Noah Chestnut (right) tells Mashable that it was also a good case study for creating engagement on Twitter.

“This was an opportunity to really see the viral moment and direct it to an extent, as well as just learn about how people engage with it,” says Chestnut. In his work at a public affairs and communications firm Hamilton Strategies, he typically handles less viral topics.

Throughout the past two days, he tweeted as @JFKTurtles and earned Twitter attention from the giant followings of Josh Groban, Katie Couric and ABC World News. Project Runway judge Nina Garcia made a runway joke too.

Eventually #JFKTurtles started to become a hashtag for the incident, with major news organizations like the Wall Street Journal and NBC using the handle in headlines that they posted to Twitter. And all sorts of media began referring to the “JFK Turtles” when discussing the story.

About 80% of the 8,000 or so people who followed the account were women, Chestnut says. And 60% of them were between the ages of 22 and 33. He has not lost many followers despite tweeting frequently. “Engagement is good and constant tweeting isn’t bad,” he says.

He also found the oft-cited optimal time for tweeting, between 4 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., to hold true for the turtles. During that time accounts like Audi, Microsoft and Hotels.com tweeted at him.

But the biggest lesson, he said, might be that creating an amusing or beneficial account premise is more worthwhile than nitpicking specific social media messages.

“People weren’t as amused by what I was writing as they were with the idea that the turtles were tweeting,” he said.

More About: JFKTurtles, twitter, twitter tips

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Lots of people are “different” these days. But are they really thought leaders?

1. In most cases, you can’t tell one coach, consultant or expert in a particular industry from another. They practically use the same language to describe themselves and what they do.

2. If you look at the articles on their blog and those they distribute within the different groups – you’ll notice that they provide the same old information as everyone else.

Now, look at your profile. Look at the content you provide. Now, take an even closer look. Then go into LinkedIn and view others in your industry.

So how different are you? Are you ready to differentiate yourself

5 Ways to Differentiate Yourself On LinkedIn

1. Create a headline that…

a) Grabs instant attention
b) Proves to me your value
c) Makes me want to know more about you.

For example, check out these headlines…

* From Skip Weisman’s profile: Client Admits Losing 5 Million Dollars Because of Poor Workplace Communication! Could You Be Making the Same Mistakes? Notice how this headline makes you stop and think – “Wow, if Skip uncovered the reason why a client lost 5 million dollars, I wonder how much money he could stop me from obliviously losing.”

* From Judith Lindenberger’s profile – Discover why Bristol Myers Squib, American Express & AstraZeneca invest in this WSJ featured HR expert, & Consultant – Notice how Judith sets herself apart by mentioning the large company names she works with and by showing that she is a Wall Street Journal featured expert. She is adding credibility elements.

2. Stop making your summary sound like “An About the Author” section. For example, I recently completed a Live Video Profile Review for an immigration lawyer and this was his summary…

Carlos Batara is an attorney who specializes in immigration law. A large percentage of his practice is focused on immigration trials and appeals.

Carlos was the former chairperson for the American Bar Association Solo and Small Firm Division, Immigration Law Committee. Throughout his career, he has served on many local, state, and federal government boards and commissions. He speaks professionally on a variety of immigration and political issues.

This sounds like it should be on the back of a hardcover book in an about the author section. The only thing missing is “Carlos lives in New York City with his wife and two dogs.” It does not make me want to learn anything more about him as an individual or businessman. It’s even in third person which does nothing to help the reader relate to him on a human level. How can you make a connection with some like that?

3. Stop making your experience section sound like a resume. Use this area as a way to show prospects exactly what you can do for them. For example instead of just saying HR Consultant (which resembles a boring resume that no one wants to read), here are some of the positions we created for Judith Lindenberger…

* HR Expert Specializing in Helping Companies & Global Corporations Avoid Million Dollar Lawsuits

* HR Expert, Consultant and Trainer Now Offers 25+ Training Solutions for HR Executives & Leaders

We didn’t just put a listing of current and past jobs along with a basic description of some accomplishments. We made sure that the position headline and the copy that followed it drew in the reader and enticed them to read more about her. We focused on what Judith is doing right now to help clients – because that’s what your prospects want to know.

4. Get testimonials that show specific results – Yes, you should get happy when you get testimonials like:

“You guys are my secret weapon and you deliver BIG results which is why I keep coming back.” — Robert Smith, Author of “Million Dollar Press Releases: Guide To Boosting Profits Using Free Publicity”

However, does a testimonial like this differentiate you? No! It doesn’t describe the big results. It doesn’t get specific. When you get testimonials and LinkedIn recommendations like the one above, you need thank the client and then ask questions that lead them to a more specific recommendation. This way, you can get testimonial like this:

“150 New Subscribers, Four New Coaching Clients, $6,259 In Immediate Profits, And Two Media Interviews!” Leveraging the full power of LinkedIn® has been the “secret ingredient” that has, in just the past 5 months, taken me further toward achieving “authority” status as a website conversions expert than I moved in three years PRIOR.” Adam Hommey – Founder, Help My Website Sell

5. Create content that sets you apart. For example, you’ll find controversial articles on Skip’s LinkedIn profile and blog like:

Debate 1: Teamwork Is A Myth And That There Must Be A Focus On “I” In Team

Debate 2: The Communication Model Taught During The Last 40 Years Is A Bunch Of Crock!

Notice how Skip is not following the generally accepted model. He’s differentiating himself. If your want to be a thought leader then you need to stop following every one else and make yourself stand out from the rest. You cannot be afraid to do something different or go against common thoughts, philosophies or mindsets. You have to let loose and share information that others keep hidden from others unless they pay thousands of dollars.

Now, start differentiating yourself and make yourself the thought leader in your industry. If you need help, check out these new Instant LinkedIn Marketing Templates and Instant Article Writing Templates at http://www.InstantLinkedInMarketingTemplates.com

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

LinkedIn Marketing Question – Seriously, How Different Are You?

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According to Harris, the spin-off will be called HortonWorks, a reference to the elephant-themed Dr. Suess book Horton Hears a Who.

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HortonWorks is expected to offer a set of high level management tools on top of the Hadoop core, which will also be open source. Harris notes that Yahoo will try to maintain a good working relationship with Apache. However, Harris has reported that Yahoo’s relationship with Apache was strained in the past. Competing with Cloudera, which employees core Hadoop developers, could make some uncomfortable.

Yahoo has long been a major backer of Hadoop, and has contributed the majority of the current code base. Hadoop creator Doug Cutting worked at Yahoo before moving on to Cloudera. Yahoo is moving into an increasingly crowded space also populated by companies like DataStax, EMC and IBM. Also, LexisNexis just open-sourced a competing big data technology HPCC. Harris writes “HortonWorks will have to ensure it advances Hadoop development across industry lines and not just in a manner optimized for Yahoo’s webscale needs if it wants to gain adoption.”

It’s still early in the game, but Harris also points out that Hadoop companies aren’t producing much revenue yet. “Cloudera is leading the charge right now with what I’ve heard is a few million in annual revenue, but that’s hardly enough to sustain the amount of investment in Hadoop,” he writes. However, The Wall Street Journal reports that analysts believe that commercial Hadoop could be a billion market.

Discuss

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According to Harris, the spin-off will be called HortonWorks, a reference to the elephant-themed Dr. Suess book Horton Hears a Who.

Sponsor

HortonWorks is expected to offer a set of high level management tools on top of the Hadoop core, which will also be open source. Harris notes that Yahoo will try to maintain a good working relationship with Apache. However, Harris has reported that Yahoo’s relationship with Apache was strained in the past. Competing with Cloudera, which employees core Hadoop developers, could make some uncomfortable.

Yahoo has long been a major backer of Hadoop, and has contributed the majority of the current code base. Hadoop creator Doug Cutting worked at Yahoo before moving on to Cloudera. Yahoo is moving into an increasingly crowded space also populated by companies like DataStax, EMC and IBM. Also, LexisNexis just open-sourced a competing big data technology HPCC. Harris writes “HortonWorks will have to ensure it advances Hadoop development across industry lines and not just in a manner optimized for Yahoo’s webscale needs if it wants to gain adoption.”

It’s still early in the game, but Harris also points out that Hadoop companies aren’t producing much revenue yet. “Cloudera is leading the charge right now with what I’ve heard is a few million in annual revenue, but that’s hardly enough to sustain the amount of investment in Hadoop,” he writes. However, The Wall Street Journal reports that analysts believe that commercial Hadoop could be a billion market.

Discuss

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GoDaddy, the world’s largest domain registrar, started shopping around for billion dollar acquisition bids in September of last year. Three private equity firms are now said to be close to finalizing a deal to buy GoDaddy for between $2 billion and $2.5 billion.

GoDaddy could announce the sale as early as next week, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing people familiar with the matter.

KKR & Co., Silver Lake Partners and Technology Crossover Ventures are named as would-be buyers.

GoDaddy was said to be eyeing a $1 billion sale in September. “The sale process for the company was temporarily scuttled late last year when some potential bidders, including private-equity firms TPG Capital and General Atlantic, were told the auction was off,” the Journal reports.

The domain registrar and hosting company is perhaps best known for its too-hot-for-TV advertising spots. More recently, GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons made headlines after a video of him shooting an elephant in Zimbabwe surfaced on the web.

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The Federal Trade Commission is preparing to launch the most comprehensive antitrust investigation of Google’s business practices yet, according to a new report.

The investigation will begin with a series of civil subpoenas that will be sent in the next few days, according to The Wall Street Journal. The FTC’s probe will include official requests of information from Google. Requests to other companies about their relationship with the search giant will likely come during the course of the investigation.

This isn’t Google’s first rodeo with the FTC; many of its acquisitions have been reviewed thoroughly, and the FTC nearly challenged Google’s acquisition of AdMob last year. It recently settled a case with the FTC over Google Buzz privacy issues. The European Union opened a similar antitrust investigation against Google late last year.

This investigation promises to be more comprehensive than any other U.S. investigation to date. At the center of the antitrust investigation will surely be claims that Google manipulates search engine results pages (SERPs) to its advantage. Google products such as Places are often placed prominently on SERPs, which some argue draws clicks away from companies such as Yelp, Expedia and Microsoft. The latter actually filed an antitrust complaint with the EU against Google earlier this year.

It’s inevitable that people will compare this investigation to the famous Microsoft antitrust investigation of the late 1990s. That case, United States vs. Microsoft, ended with a settlement that stopped Microsoft from using Windows to push its other products and lock out its competitors. Microsoft’s growth came to a halt after the case, and the company has never fully recovered.

The FTC seems serious about pushing forward with a case against Google. The WSJ reports that the FTC fought the Justice Department for the right to handle this case. That can only signal that the FTC doesn’t intend to walk away empty-handed.

More About: Antitrust, FTC, Google, justice department

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The Federal Trade Commission is preparing to launch the most comprehensive antitrust investigation of Google’s business practices yet, according to a new report.

The investigation will begin with a series of civil subpoenas that will be sent in the next few days, according to The Wall Street Journal. The FTC’s probe will include official requests of information from Google. Requests to other companies about their relationship with the search giant will likely come during the course of the investigation.

This isn’t Google’s first rodeo with the FTC; many of its acquisitions have been reviewed thoroughly, and the FTC nearly challenged Google’s acquisition of AdMob last year. It recently settled a case with the FTC over Google Buzz privacy issues. The European Union opened a similar antitrust investigation against Google late last year.

This investigation promises to be more comprehensive than any other U.S. investigation to date. At the center of the antitrust investigation will surely be claims that Google manipulates search engine results pages (SERPs) to its advantage. Google products such as Places are often placed prominently on SERPs, which some argue draws clicks away from companies such as Yelp, Expedia and Microsoft. The latter actually filed an antitrust complaint with the EU against Google earlier this year.

It’s inevitable that people will compare this investigation to the famous Microsoft antitrust investigation of the late 1990s. That case, United States vs. Microsoft, ended with a settlement that stopped Microsoft from using Windows to push its other products and lock out its competitors. Microsoft’s growth came to a halt after the case, and the company has never fully recovered.

The FTC seems serious about pushing forward with a case against Google. The WSJ reports that the FTC fought the Justice Department for the right to handle this case. That can only signal that the FTC doesn’t intend to walk away empty-handed.

More About: Antitrust, FTC, Google, justice department

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The Federal Trade Commission is preparing to launch the most comprehensive antitrust investigation of Google’s business practices yet, according to a new report.

The investigation will begin with a series of civil subpoenas that will be sent in the next few days, according to The Wall Street Journal. The FTC’s probe will include official requests of information from Google. Requests to other companies about their relationship with the search giant will likely come during the course of the investigation.

This isn’t Google’s first rodeo with the FTC; many of its acquisitions have been reviewed thoroughly, and the FTC nearly challenged Google’s acquisition of AdMob last year. It recently settled a case with the FTC over Google Buzz privacy issues. The European Union opened a similar antitrust investigation against Google late last year.

This investigation promises to be more comprehensive than any other U.S. investigation to date. At the center of the antitrust investigation will surely be claims that Google manipulates search engine results pages (SERPs) to its advantage. Google products such as Places are often placed prominently on SERPs, which some argue draws clicks away from companies such as Yelp, Expedia and Microsoft. The latter actually filed an antitrust complaint with the EU against Google earlier this year.

It’s inevitable that people will compare this investigation to the famous Microsoft antitrust investigation of the late 1990s. That case, United States vs. Microsoft, ended with a settlement that stopped Microsoft from using Windows to push its other products and lock out its competitors. Microsoft’s growth came to a halt after the case, and the company has never fully recovered.

The FTC seems serious about pushing forward with a case against Google. The WSJ reports that the FTC fought the Justice Department for the right to handle this case. That can only signal that the FTC doesn’t intend to walk away empty-handed.

More About: Antitrust, FTC, Google, justice department

For more Tech & Gadgets coverage:

• Follow Mashable Tech & Gadgets on Twitter
• Become a Fan on Facebook
• Subscribe to the Tech & Gadgets channel
• Download our free apps for Android, Mac, iPhone and iPad

Go to Source