For all that Silicon Valley likes to portray otherwise the High Tech Industry is still dominated by men. And, that point is being illuminated once again via the lawsuit that was filed against one of the Valley’s flagship VC firms (Kleiner Perkins).
(Source) NY Times: http://goo.gl/gHYql
As if their post-IPO whimper and subsequent falling stock price was not enough of a distraction / headache; Facebook’s website itself followed their valuation by going down e.g., locales ranging from Oslo to Shanghai to Moscow to San Francisco (ouch!) all reported accessibility issues… and, those reportedly behind said issue(s) are none other than Anonymous.
(Source) The Washington Post: http://goo.gl/hNaqi
Interesting; Google’s accusation of collusion between Microsoft and Nokia is a curious statement indeed when you consider that said firm bought Motorola and the simple fact that there’s a fairly high probability that any other given player within the Smartphone space might level the same claim against this pairing (at an as yet unknown point in the future).
(Source) Reuters: http://goo.gl/G0psO
A term that most people are probably unfamiliar with; nevertheless, putting it into more common terms it is the equivalent of streaming 38 million DVDs in an hour (which according to Cisco) is 4 times the amount of data generated currently.
(Source) Giga Om: http://goo.gl/zHIcM
Buying the browser Opera for a billion? No, acquiring another technology ‘Face’ for an estimated $100 million to $1 billion? Wait, they’re going to build a Smartphone (from scratch) right? Lots of directions / options… grasping at ideas… seeing what sticks on the wall? And, not as flush with cash as they were reportedly valued at… Facebook’s stock keeps getting hammered (clearly, an issue as well as internal distraction now as it is only human-nature that a lot of ‘paper-millionaires’ therein will be focused on the roller coaster that is their ticker price).
Aside from all of these issues / variables; building their own Smartphone smacks of a move that’s partially naive; partially foolish; partially full of hubris and perhaps even clueless (unless they have a major coup up their sleeve that they’re going to spring on the marketplace).
Of course, there is always the matter of buying Opera for a (reported) price of $1 billion (which begs the question: why exactly?) Finally, buying a face-recognition technology (whilst alluding to Minority Report) will also in all probability result in legal issues regarding privacy (and potential lawsuits that’ll further distract the firm). Long story short; Facebook’s IPO ‘splash’ was certainly short-lived (putting it mildly). A continued welcome to the world of being publicly-traded…
What’s next: Z gets ousted in a nasty proxy battle? Stay tuned; the market and their shareholders are certainly doing so no matter how demoralizing their post-IPO fizzle must be / feel…
(Source) Reuters: http://goo.gl/1hgrS
In the aftermath of the horrific devastation and destruction that Japan experienced last year the General Public has been increasingly concerned (rightfully so) regarding radiation contamination. Hopefully their fears and anxieties will be somewhat decreased by the upcoming release of handsets (Japanese) with built-in radiation monitors.
Granted, this doesn’t even remotely address the on-going challenges that the nation faces. However, if commercial technology is being built and deployed to assist with disaster recovery efforts (be they natural and/or man-made) that’s a welcomed development (now, if we can just convince people the world-over that moving away from fossil-based energy-resources, etc. and employing alternative / green energies would benefit our collective humanity via creating jobs; protecting the environment and a myriad of upsides too numerous to detail herein) we’d go a long way towards turning the poison of this devastation / loss, etc. into something much more positive.
(Source) The Washington Post: http://goo.gl/DNCsh
The resounding response to the on-again rumor that Facebook is developing a Smartphone is overwhelming negative (which isn’t really surprising).
(Source) Slash Gear: http://goo.gl/4k8j5
Master of None… for if the on-and-off-again rumors are true than this looks to be the path that Facebook is headed on with their desire to build their own handset…
(Source) Apple Insider: http://goo.gl/DPPTh
If the rumors of Facebook buying Opera are true; it demonstrates (at least) two points: 1) their acquisition strategy looks to continue to be focused on the mobile space; 2) the extent that the firm is stumped within this space might actually be bigger than they have (publicly) disclosed.
(Source) LA Times: http://goo.gl/QUDBY
In the aftermath of Facebook’s botched IPO many questions linger… not the least of which is: how will the initial money that the firm made be spent regarding (potentially) buying rivals; investment and/or expansion, etc?
(Source): The Washington Post: http://goo.gl/Wn1T8
