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22May/093

Is Twitter looking to charge per tweet?

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Greetings Readers!

For years now, people have been asking how twitter is going to make money.  Earlier this week, their stance on some of the ideas including advertising became a bit more clear although we still haven't seen any indication that any form of monetization is coming down the pipes.  Could Twitter be planning something so sinister that they don't want anybody knowing yet?  Could they be planning to...charge per tweet?!

For whatever reason, the idea of charging per tweet never gets discussed much when people talk about how twitter can make money, but it is possibly the way that the service can make the most money.  Sure, some users would be pissed if they were charged per tweet, but wireless carriers have been able to make this service work with text messages for years.  Wireless carriers typically give customers several options when it comes to texting, you can pay per text, for a certain number of texts and then pay per text above that or for unlimited texts.  Considering how much is charged for texts and how little they cost the carrier to send, it is a huge cash cow for wireless carriers.  Not only does it make them a ton of money, but it also keeps the demand on the service at a more manageable level because people will more closely regulate how much they use the service.

This could be the perfect model for twitter.  If twitter was to charge you a subscription fee that allows you so many tweets per month and then pay for anything over that like wireless carriers do with text messaging, they would need huge trucks just to haul all of their money to the bank.  Having an unlimited subscription plan would be great and benefit the heaviest of users because it could take some of the current restrictions off in terms of number of tweets that can be sent per day.  Of course there would be a free tier that would allow you to send so many tweets per month that while reasonable, would entice people to pay for a higher number of tweets.  This would also solve one of twitter's biggest issues, stability.  If people were forced to keep a better eye on how much they tweet (unless they have an unlimited plan), twitter wouldn't constantly run into the the growing pains that it seems to continually suffer from.  Until recently, they hadn't been a major issue since the fairly early days of the service, but the scaling issues seems to have returned now that Twitter has gone mainstream and this would be the best possible way to slow the growth and use of twitter until they can keep up with it while making a ton of money at the same time.  They can kill two fail whales with one stone.

Will Twitter adopt this model as a way to make money and keep the site from growing faster than they can keep up with it or will they find another avenue for monetization?  Time will tell.

Check out the latest Global Geek News Podcast!

Follow me on Twitter!

-Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray

 
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16May/090

Apple’s approval system: keeping them safe or ruining their platform?

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There's no question that Apple has enjoyed immense success with the launch of the iPhone. It's one of the best selling phones ever, and considering it was originally priced at $500 and is now $200 on a two year - or longer - contract, that's certainly a feat. It's pireced our society's collective mind as a must-have gadget and this is in no way because of hardware. Instead, Apple created and marketed brilliant software.

All is not well in the world of Apple, however. They are facing stiff competition from both Google and Palm from Android and WebOS respectively. Both are going to be robust platforms and will have multiple devices shipping this year. We don't know much about Palm's OS yet, but Google's Android is a fully open system - the user is free to put whatever they like on it and modify it whatever way they see fit.

This is one of the core reasons people loved the iPhone when it launched. It freed them from their candy bar phones. It let them explore a world foreign to flip phone owners. For the first time ever, people could browse an application store over the air and install whatever they please. This was the true joy of the iPhone. This is also why it took the launch of the 3G and iPhone OS 2.0 before the device hit critical mass.

Now that it has hit critical mas, Apple has a big problem on their hands and it all stems from their application approval process. They have published guildelines for what will and will not be accepted to the app store, but often the lines are blurred or even misinterpreted by the person reviewing the application. This has led to countless examples of peoples' apps being rejected (most notably the recent rejection of Nine Inch Nails' application) for seemingly trivial or invalid reasons.

There are two main problems at play. The first is that Apple wants to control content and keep everything PG. In a world where Watchmen can make $100 million at the box office, an R-rated comic book movie, this seems highly illogical. That is not to say that content needs to be violent or innapopriate to be good, rather that there is excellent content out there that is not family friendly. Considering the average iPhone owner is likely well over the age of 18 (you do need to be a legal adult to sign a contract), it follows then that there should be channels by which Apple can allow mature content onto the app store.

The second problem is random rejection. The app store is Apple's playground and if they don't like what you've built, either because it potentially threatens one of their businesses or they simply don't like what it stands for, they can and will reject your application. Frustratingly, they recently rejected an app that lets you remote control Transmission - a BitTorrent application. To be clear: the iPhone app was simply a remote control and did not download any content of any kind. Apple either accidentally or purposefully misinterpreted the function of the application, and rejected it based on the grounds that "this category of applications is often used for the purpose of infringing third party rights." It's hard not to feel bad for the developers of this app because not only does it in no way infringe copyrights, the application that it controls - Transmission - can be used for many legitimate purposes.

There have been many more examples of Apple rejecting applications for seemingly illogical, convoluted or unfair reasons. Sling Player was released recently and it was crippled to work over WiFi only - something AT&T has since explained it was the cause of. AT&T is not the only carrier that sells the iPhone and it really shouldn't have any say in which applications do or don't get approved, or be able to impose restrictions on functionality.

Is the iPhone a great device? It was and still is, there is no question of that. Its touch interface is still unmatched and the user experience from iTunes to iPhone has no rival in the mobile device market. This doesn't mean Apple can continue to rest on its laurels. The public is becoming increasingly aware - and miffed - of rejections of truly functional applications. There have been whispers that OS 3.0 will include better parental controls that will enable users to receive mature content, and therefore allow Apple to publish such content in the app store without liability.

Parental controls alone won't save the app store. Apple needs to get much more specific with its approval guidelines and should strive to never break their own rejection rules. If they do, there needs to be a democratic appeal process. Currently there is no process apart from resubmitting, which leads to angry rants from Trent Reznor. What sets the iPhone apart from the pack is its software. If Apple is going to continue to cripple what software is available, it may just be surprised how fast Android can overtake its prized jewel.

 
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12May/090

Twitter believes we are too stupid for @ replies

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Greetings Readers!

Normally I am fast asleep at the time that I am writing this, but it is quite warm here and I can't sleep when it is hot.  Not being able to sleep, I decided to browse the new posts on my Google Reader.  After sifting through all of the stuff I don't care about, I came across some news from TechCrunch that Twitter is removing a large part of the service's @ reply functionality because it seems to believe people are too stupid to figure it out.  Maybe I am just cranky because I can't sleep, but this sounds like a great opportunity to go on a good rant.

Is there anything about Twitter that confuses you to the point of frustration or even wanting to quit the service?  Do you find @ replies confusing?  I didn't think so.  @ Replies have been around for nearly as long as Twitter yet apparently all of the sudden they are too confusing for people.  What is most perplexing is that this functionality that is being removed, the ability to see everybody's @ replies even if you don't follow the people they are talking to, is that this functionality isn't even enabled by default.  You have to go into the settings and enable this feature yourself.  If people are too stupid to figure out the basics of twitter, what are they doing mucking around in the settings area in the first place?  If people can't figure out what this functionality does and how it affects their experience withe the service, I think that is more twitter's fault for not explaining it well enough instead of just implying that their users are stupid.

The truly annoying thing about all of this is that they seem to be eliminating one feature after another without adding anything.  Just recently, they announced that they were killing the auto-follow feature that a user has to request to be an option in the first place.  Why are you killing a feature that is obviously valuable to some people while most users don't know it exists so that it can't change how they use the service?  I am not completely against killing features as I understand that sometimes they aren't useful or cause more problems than good, but killing used features for no reason and not replacing them with new functionality is something that has always irritated me.  It is the purpose of a service to move forward, not back.  While many services are adding features, the fastest growing service on the internet seems to be taking them away with no legitimate reason for doing so.

Twitter seems to be becoming too reliant upon third party services to fill in the gap.  I will admit that while there are some really stupid services out there, there are a ton of great twitter apps and services that bring a huge value to the twitter experience.  While I think it is great to let the twitter community grow and do its own thing, it is not right to expect them to pick up the slack and make new services just because you kill off an existing feature.  You can help the community grow in many ways, but lowering the value of your service by disabling features is not a good move for anybody.  Twitter needs to wake up and realize that it has a ton of competition from services such as friendfeed and needs to spend more time improving and stabilizing the product instead of moving backward and disabling existing functionality.

Enough of my late night rant.  If you haven't already, give a listen to episode #23 of the Global Geek News Podcast.  A new show should be out Thursday or Friday.  Until then...

Follow me on twitter & friendfeed!

-Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray

 
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12May/090

Don’t let your social networks become your enemy in lawsuits

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Greetings Readers,

For a long time now, I have advocated being very careful of what you put on your social networks.  From compromising photos on your facebook page to tweets about your desire to become the next Hitler, anything you post on social networks can and will likely be used against you if you don't think twice before posting them.  Not only can those drunken party pictures damage your chances of landing that great job, but they can also screw you out of winning a lawsuit.

This week, a man in Canada who was suing for damages resulting from two car accidents in 2001 and 2003 had many of his claims rejected because what he had posted on facebook was the complete opposite of what he was alleging in his lawsuit.  Long story short, he claimed that his social life had gone down the tubes and that his friends wouldn't speak to him, but his facebook pictures showed him hosting parties and socializing with a good number of friends.  The $1.3 million lawsuit only got him $40,000 thanks to the photos.

If you are going say one thing, especially in places where it really maters like a courtroom or a job interview, it is generally a very bad idea to have evidence to the contrary on your facebook profile, flickr page or any other social network to which you belong.  Not only can the truth come out and screw you (that is what you get for being dishonest), but social networks are a better way for people to get to know you which might not be a good thing depending on what you want them believing about you.

In the end, you have two real options, be completely honest with everybody at all times incase they want to check up on you, or think twice about what you put online and what people will think about what you post.

Follow me on Twitter!

-Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray

 
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12May/090

Microsoft finally advertises its biggest advantage over the iPod, cost

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Greetings Readers!

Microsoft has unveiled their latest attack on Apple, but this time it doesn't involve anybody going to a retail store and purchasing a laptop.  This time Microsoft is setting its sights on the iPod.  The latest commercial attacks Apple for not having a subscription service on iTunes for music downloads.  Without a subscription service, they claim it will cost $30,000 to fill a 120GB iPod with mp3s.  Microsoft's Zune on the other hand, has an unlimited music service that is $15/mo for unlimited music downloads.  It would take over 166 years of a Zune Pass subscription to equal what it would cost if you were to fill a 120GB iPod from iTunes.  I believe that this is a great move from Microsoft.  When you talk saving money during hard economic times, people are going to listen.  Much like the Windows ads, I think that they can do the most damage to Apple if they push the issue of cost.

Of course the commercial doesn't give you the whole story, otherwise you might not be compelled to switch.  All music downloaded with a Zune Pass comes with that dreaded DRM garbage that the rest of the world is moving away from.  Without the pass, you can get DRM free music but not with it.  The subscription has DRM so that you continue to subscribe to the Zune Pass.  If you don't keep your subscription renewed, you will end up with a bunch of music that won't play.  That is the downside of the Zune Pass.  You get to keep 10 songs a month I believe for free but everything else will die if you don't renew.  Microsoft paints a pretty picture with the commercial, but everything has a downside and this is one they hope you won't notice.  Of course you could crack the DRM and eliminate that downside, but that is not legal.  As much as my pirate nature would like to share information with you on how to do that, I am not looking to piss off Microsoft, especially when I have the desire to work for them at some point.  Anyway, below is the new Zune ad that attacks the idea that it would cost $30,000 to fill an iPod.

 
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11May/090

Duke Nukem For-Never: 3D Realms Closes

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Those of us who have been waiting over the past decade for another dose of the Duke will not want to hear this: 3D Realms has been shut down due to lack of funding.

3D Realms, formerly Apogee, is most famous for the development of the Duke Nukem games, but has also published and/or produced many hits including Max Payne and Wolfenstein 3D.

Shacknews broke the story citing insiders close to the development of Duke Nukem Forever, and their post was later updated to reflect that the new Apogee will not be affected. So what does this mean for us? Likely, it means that Duke Nukem Forever will be put on hold indefinitely as Take Two will no longer be funding or publishing the game.

This is, I'm sure, not the way you wanted to see Duke Nukem go out. Even though the game has been mired by start-overs, engine changes, funding issues and numerous delays causing development to drag out for more than a decade, many fans hoped to see a finished product. But is this revelation really all that surprising?

Developing one game for over a decade is not, as Joystiq put it, a great strategy. A surefire way for a development team to cause themselves headaches and sunk costs is to change the specifications of their project partway through. 3D Realms changed the underlying engine multiple times - from the Quake 2 engine, to the Unreal engine to something completely custom written.

After missing promised deadlines multiple times, many in the gaming scene began to lose hope - and it's somewhere in this time frame where I lost hope too. Duke Nukem Forever has to be the most infamous piece of vaporware ever. It's the sequel to what many consider one of the best first person shooters ever, and it will not be coming out any time soon unless 3D Realms puts out the source code.

A source code release isn't likely - Take Two still owns the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever. Who knows, maybe they will find a developer to reboot the long dead franchise.

Here's to 3D Realms and the original Duke Nukem games. Perhaps one day we will play a game called Duke Nukem Forever - but it will never be the one 3D Realms forged for so long. And that is truly a shame.

 
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7May/090

Is the Kindle DX the savior that printed media is hoping for?

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Greetings Readers!

Unless you have spent your day completely disconnected from the internet, you have heard all about Amazon's Kindle DX announcement.  For those that haven't, it has a screen that is larger than the entire Kindle 2, native PDF support, portrait and landscape viewing similar to when you turn the iPhone on its side and it is shipping sometime this summer for $489.  Why would you want a Kindle that is 2.5 times the size of the Kindle 2, nearly double the weight and considerably more expensive than the Kindle 2?  The Amazon Kindle DX will give you better reading of newspapers, magazines and textbooks, or so they hope.

There seems to be a ton of discussion about whether the new Kindle DX can save the print industry but I really don't think it can do that for several reasons, the biggest one being price.

The Kindle has had a fair number of lovers and haters since it came out (I am a lover which you can see by the first part of my Kindle review and the second part which will be up soon), but one of the biggest criticisms it seems to face is the cost.  Kindle 2 runs $360.  Personally, I find it well worth the price considering most books are cheaper and you get a free Sprint EV-DO connection for the life of the device among other things but in the current economy it is too expensive for mass adoption.  I think it is a hard sell to ask people to pay another $129 just for a larger screen to read newspapers and text books easier.  I really don't see the native PDF support as a big enough feature that would justify the price either, especially since you can easily put PDF documents on the current Kindle with Amazon's handy conversion service.  A device can't be the savior of newspapers or magazines if it is so expensive that most people can't afford it other than a few early adopters.

Speaking of money, it became known today that Amazon has a 70/30 revenue split with newspapers.  That seems like Amazon is taking a rather large chunk considering there isn't that big of an audience for newspapers to tap in to.  If anything, I think this makes other mobile platforms better looking for distribution since companies like Apple or Google only take a 30% cut for putting apps on their marketplaces.  I suppose some money is better than none when you are in a dying industry, but I think having to give up 70% is a bit much.

Another reason why I don't believe that the Kindle DX is the savior that print media is looking for is that the larger size kills the portable factor that the Kindle is known for.  One of the reasons I love my Kindle so much is that it easily fits into the side pocket of my laptop bag without sticking out or easily falling out.  It is very easy to carry when I am carrying other books since they are approximately the same size.  This is not the case with the Kindle DX.  With the device having a screen size larger than many netbooks, by the time you throw in a keyboard and the standard Kindle buttons and joystick, it ends up being a rather large device even though it is supposedly as thin as the Kindle two.  Something that large would most likely not fit in the side pocket of my laptop bag and if on the off chance that it did, it would likely be falling out constantly.  The other big issue in my eyes is the weight.  The device weighs nearly double that of the Kindle 2 (18 oz. vs 10 oz.)  Personally, I find that the Kindle 2 is the perfect weight for the device.  It is very comfortable for reading for long periods of time.  With that large of a weight difference, I can't imagine it being nearly as comfortable to hold during long periods of reading.  If its not comfortable, many people wont want to spend hours on it a day to read all of their favorite national newspapers.

Finally, I think the changes to the physical UI are a step backward.  The Kindle 2 has a very nice, clean and pleasant look.  The Kindle DX has maintained much of that but seems to have made some sacrifices in the name of a larger screen.  There are no longer any buttons on the left side of the device to change the page which many people who like to hold their Kindle in their left hand will find rather annoying.  The right side seems to be a bit improved in my mind as it now as a previous page button, something that was a complaint of mine for my Kindle 2 as I often want to go back a page with my right hand instead of my left.  For me, the thing that really hurts the physical design is the keyboard.  It looks very scrunched and stretched at the bottom of the device to the point that it is kind of ugly in the way that the original Kindle was ugly.  Otherwise it is very Kindle 2 like which is nice but those two issues are a drawback for me and I think the left button issue will be a real problem for current Kindle users that are looking to upgrade that mainly use buttons on the left side.

In the end, I think that Amazon's Kindle DX will provide a very small increase in revenue for newspapers, magazines and textbooks but I guess it might be worth it for some companies if it is their only hope.  I think that the largest determining factor of the Kindle DX's success and its impact on the print industry is dependent on the price and at the current price point I think it will be a disappointment for everybody.

 
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6May/090

The Global Geek News Blog is looking for writers!

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Greetings Readers!

Since I rarely have the time to make the quality blog posts that I write, I have decided that it is time to open the Global Geek News Blog up to other writers.  If you have a passion for all things technology and some free time, you can shoot me an email at pcnerd37@globalgeeknews.com to apply to be a writer on the blog.  I don't really care much about what you write about as long as it is tech related.  If you want to do product reviews, that is fine with me.  If you want to post about tech news the second it comes out, that sounds great to me too!  I am looking to give potential writers a lot of rope so that they can either improve the blog or hang themselves quickly so somebody else can replace them and hopefully do a better job.  This is NOT a paid position.  I have never made any money from blogging or podcasting and due it purely for the love of technology and the desire to express my opinions and I hope to have the same from anybody that writes on the blog.  If the blog starts to actually make money and you are part of the reason why, I would be willing to give you a slice of the pie.

My goal in finding new writers is to have quality content on a regular basis.  You are welcome to write posts as often as you would like although I would prefer at least one post a week.  If you want to post daily or multiple times each day, that is fine with me too.  I am not looking for a specific number of writers but I am hoping to get several but I don't want too many cooks in the kitchen all trying to write about the same story.

Are you still interested?  If so, here is what I would like from you before I let you start writing for the blog.  Shoot me an email at pcnerd37@globalgeeknews.com and tell me why you would be a good writer for the blog.  Describe any writing experience that you have as well as link me to some samples to your writing (no attachments please).  Also, tell me how often you will be planning to write posts and if there is anything specific you would like to write about (gadgets, phones, social media, start-ups, etc).  From there, I will determine if you are a good fit for the blog and bring you in on a trial basis and assuming you do well, you will officially become a part of the Global Geek News Blog.  Its that simple, so if you are interested, shoot me an email!

Follow me on Twitter!

-Jeremy "pcnerd37" Bray

 
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