Wednesday, October 8, 2003

Cheap Chips Drive New Wave

by alec on October 8, 2003

Cheap chips seen driving next tech wave: From News.COM. In general I think this is true, with the exception of the assertion that products will be sold below cost, and the difference made up in service fees. This is a flawed model for most businesses. Consumers have demonstrated that they are willing to pay for some kinds of content, and for some kinds of communications services using fees that allow the handset to be subsidized, but certainly not anywhere near the breadth of services and content that folks were envisioning just a couple of years ago. Some whacky models were getting tried out, including Microsoft’s notion that WebTV customers would be willing to pay $10/month extra for fast forward / rewind capabilities on the PVR. Whew!

Smartphones to Dominate Wireless Handset Market

by alec on October 8, 2003

Smartphones Will Dominate Wireless Handset Market By 2008. No surprise in the article, but the "message from sponsor" is quite enlightening

Register: Liberty Broadband Tits Up

October 8, 2003

Liberty Broadband goes tits up. Not the sort of headline one normally sees in the news, but then again, the Register is known for being somewhat edgy…

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Economic Stimulus?

October 8, 2003

I’ve been sitting and reading the news and listening to the debate on the "Economic Stimulus" package that Bush has proposed in the US for the last couple of days. Whatever else the package means, it’s clear to me that I should never have left the US. Whew, what a windfall! No more dividend taxes, [...]

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Microsoft Digital Media Price Cuts

October 8, 2003

Microsoft Undercuts Rivals with Digital Media Pricing. Microsoft has announced plans to license its new digital media streaming software, Windows Media 9 Series, at a cheaper price, for a greater number of devices and across more platforms than competing standards, such as MPEG-4. The most interesting thing about this is that it will be cheap [...]

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US unveils softwood peace plan

October 8, 2003

U.S. unveils softwood peace plan. VANCOUVER and OTTAWA — Canada’s traditional forest practices would be transformed under U.S. proposals aimed at producing a quick end to the long-running trade war over softwood lumber exports to the United States. I say let the American’s sweat. Apparently the softwood lumber duty is not achieving the goals they [...]

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