Linked List: August 6, 2010

Friday, 6 August 2010

Mark Hurd Forced to Resign From HP for ‘Inappropriate Behavior’ ★

Hurd was president, CEO, and chairman of the board; just like that, he’s out. CNet has the memo sent to HP employees by Cathie Lesjak, CFO and interim CEO, which states:

Based on the investigation it was determined that the former contractor’s claim of sexual harassment was not supported by the facts. The investigation did reveal, however, that Mark had engaged in other inappropriate conduct. Specifically, based on the facts that were gathered it was found that Mark had failed to disclose a close personal relationship he had with the contractor that constituted a conflict of interest, failed to maintain accurate expense reports, and misused company assets.

Ignominious.

(I wonder if Jon Rubenstein is in the running to replace him?)

My-Cast Weather Radar ★

My thanks to Digital Cyclone for sponsoring this week’s DF RSS feed to promote My-Cast Weather Radar, their excellent weather information app for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

It’s fast and well-designed. It presents a bunch of information and maps in a clear, well-designed way. I’ve tried a bunch of iPhone weather apps over the past three years, and My-Cast Weather Radar is the first one that has replaced Apple’s built-in Weather app on my iPhone’s first home screen. It hits the sweet spot between a quick overview and detailed data. $3.99 on the App Store.

John Siracusa on Apple and the War for the Mobile Market: ‘Can You Buy Me Now?’ ★

John Siracusa:

The only way for Apple to eliminate the distribution and marketing advantage currently enjoyed by Android is to make sure that everywhere an Android phone is for sale, there’s an iPhone sitting right next to it that will work on the same network.

Update 1: It occurs to me that we should be able to test Siracusa’s thesis, by comparing Android and iPhone market share in countries like the U.K. and Japan, where the iPhone is already available on all the major carriers. Is that data available?

Update 2: Not sure what I was thinking about Japan, but that’s a bad example: the iPhone is only sold there through one carrier, Softbank; Japan’s biggest carrier is DoCoMo.

Google and Verizon Statements on Purported Net Neutrality Deal ★

Google’s public policy Twitter account:

@NYTimes is wrong. We’ve not had any convos with VZN about paying for carriage of our traffic. We remain committed to an open internet.

That’s in reference to this story in The Times. And here’s Verizon’s response:

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

But these strike me as non-denial denials. The question is: have Google and Verizon reached an agreement that allows Verizon to favor Android phones or Google web services over mobile networks?

Google, Champion of Net Neutrality ★

Cecilia Kang:

Specifically, Google and Verizon’s agreement could prevent Verizon from offering some prioritization to the biggest bidders who want better delivery of content on its DSL and fiber networks, according to the sources. But that wouldn’t apply to mobile phones, the sources said, speaking on the condition of anonymity because the companies have not officially made their announcement.

So Verizon and Google agree that net neutrality applies to Verizon’s DSL and fiber networks, where Google and Verizon have no shared interest. But mobile, where Verizon and Google are partners? Verizon can totally fuck over anyone except Android?

Imagine the uproar if Apple and AT&T worked out such a deal.

Skype for Android Is Exclusive to Verizon ★

I wasn’t aware of this until the other day: Skype for Android (and apparently BlackBerry, too) is exclusive to Verizon. So if you’ve got an Android phone on another carrier, you can’t use Skype. This is where I’d normally make a wry joke about how great it is that Android is “open”, but I won’t.

It is a good example of how Android is open, though. In many ways, its openness is from the perspective of the carriers. The carriers can (and do) take Android and modify the default UI appearance. They add new un-deletable system apps. And they can make exclusive deals like this one with Skype.

I don’t think Apple would ever go for something like this. If and when the iPhone comes to Verizon, I can’t imagine Apple allowing an update to Skype that won’t run on non-Verizon iPhones.

Yoko Ono Says Beatles/iTunes Deal Still at Impasse ★

Yoko Ono to Reuters:

“Steve Jobs has his own idea and he’s a brilliant guy,” Ono, the 77-year-old widow of John Lennon, told Reuters. “There’s just an element that we’re not very happy about, as people. We are holding out. Don’t hold your breath… for anything,” she said with a laugh.

Does anyone care any more? The digital music revolution is old news now.

Confessions of a Tea Party Casualty ★

Fascinating piece by David Corn for Mother Jones, on Bob Inglis, a very conservative South Carolina Republican who lost the primary election to a “Tea Party” candidate. Why? Because Inglis is not insane:

I sat down, and they said on the back of your Social Security card, there’s a number. That number indicates the bank that bought you when you were born based on a projection of your life’s earnings, and you are collateral. We are all collateral for the banks. I have this look like, “What the heck are you talking about?” I’m trying to hide that look and look clueless. I figured clueless was better than argumentative. So they said, “You don’t know this?! You are a member of Congress, and you don’t know this?!”

And because he wouldn’t falsely smear President Obama as a “socialist”:

For me to go around saying that Barack Obama is a socialist is a violation of the Ninth Commandment. He is a liberal fellow. I’m conservative. We disagree… But I don’t need to call him a socialist, and I hurt the country by doing so. The country has to come together to find a solution to these challenges or else we go over the cliff.

OK, Sure, Google Wave’s Failure Is a Good Thing ★

Mathew Ingram:

But shouldn’t we be celebrating the fact that Google was willing to experiment at all? That’s Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s view — he told reporters at the Techonomy conference that “we celebrate our failures,” saying the company encourages staff to take risks and possibly fail. And he is right to do so. […]

So maybe Wave was poorly designed, or over-engineered, and didn’t deserve to live. But we shouldn’t be so quick to condemn Google for releasing it or experimenting with it — if anything, we should be cheering them on.

The problem is, when Google unveiled Wave, they didn’t say, “Hey, maybe this thing is poorly-designed, over-engineered, and confusing — but maybe it’ll be useful.” They billed it as The Next Big Thing. Google itself pitched it as a replacement for email. It was supposed to be a big deal. Wave’s failure may not mean much to Google financially, but it has certainly cost them in credibility.

MoviePeg for iPad Now Shipping ★

Back in December, a month before the iPad was announced and unveiled, I asked, among other questions:

If you’re supposed to watch video on it, how do you prop it up? Holding it in your hands? Flat on a table seems like the wrong angle entirely; but a fold-out “arm” to prop it up, à la a picture frame, seems clumsy and inelegant.

Apple’s answer: hold it in your hands, lay it flat on a table or in your lap, or put it in a case that can prop it up. I don’t keep mine in a case, so I’ve been anxiously awaiting Magnetic North’s MoviePeg for iPad. I got mine a few days ago, and it’s great. I’ll be using it to watch the Yankees beat the Red Sox this weekend.