News Corp. Gets Split in Two

News Corp. officially announced that it is split into two publicly traded companies. One company for publishing and the other for Film/Television. Which means that Fox News, 20th century Fox and the Fox broadcast network will split from the publishing entities (WSJ, NYPost, etc). Rupert Murdoch will remain Chairman for both companies and will serve as CEO of the Media and Entertainment company. A CEO for the Publishing company has not been announced.

$199 Tablet Revolution - Welcome Nexus!

It official - Google introduced the Nexus 7 Tablet. It has a "1280 x 800 HD display, a Tegra 3 processor, a front-facing camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, a Near Field communication (NFC) chip and up to nine hours of video playback". It will be running Android 4.1 (jellybean), which was also announced today. Best of all, if you purchase a Nexus for $199 - you'll get a $25 credit to spend in Google Play - for magazines, games & movies. When I purchased my iPad I didn't get anything -

Google's $199 Nexus Tablet

Today is the day - Google is set to unveil its $199 Nexus 7 tablet. There has been a lot of discussion about the Nexus being the iPad-Killer or being the Kindle-Killer.  The future success of the Nexus may have already been determined by its "Killer-Price". For Android uses the choice is simple - for consumers who want a high performance tablet for 60% less than the cost of an iPad - again , its a simple choice.  Oh and the OS ain't so bad.

SmartMoney Magazine Eliminates Print

A  2012 joint venture between Dow Jones and Hearst, SmartMoney has seen its print advertising continue to decline on the last two years. From January through July of this year their print advertising declined 9.3% , compared to an industry average of 5.6%. With mounting operational costs Dow Jones decide to move the publication to an digital only model - eliminating 25 print production roles. They do plan to add 5 editorial specific jobs. The September issue will be the last for smart money. I expect to online product to continue down the same path as the magazine until it disappears sometime in the next 18 months.  Many publishers are fighting to  reduce the high operational costs associated with print, because for most they can't afford to eliminate their print ad revenue - which in some cases still accounts for more than 50% of their advertising revenue.

Adding Faces to Facebook

Facebook has acquired Israeli facial recognition firm Face.com. According to Reuters, it estimates that the deal is worth $55-60 million. Face's software is used for tagging photos on the Facebook platform - it scans the photos that users upload and suggests friends that match. 
Seemingly harmless, facial recognition across its social media platform will give Facebook the most robust people database on the planet -

Microsoft's Introduces a Tablet Today

If you were wondering how long Microsoft could sit on the sidelines of the tablets - well that question will be addressed today. Microsoft plans to unveil a Windows-based tablet of its own, adding another option for consumers in an iOS and Android dominated marketplace. There hasn't been much media buzz regarding Microsoft's tablet - so what can you expect to see. First, tight Office integration. Second, Xbox-like gaming experience. Third, a not so stylish look. Fourth, aggressive pricing.
But in the end its popularity will be determined by its gaming power and its price. At the end of the day "John Q. Consumer", may not understand the differences between "OS's", but they understand price.

US iPad users to grow over 90% in 2012

Based on a study conducted by eMarketer, US iPad users are forecast to grow to 53.2 million, an increase of 90 percent. The report projects that by 2015, 51.0% of U.S. internet users will have a tablet of some sort, and 35.3% will have an iPad. Asians (26.2%) are more likely to use tablets, followed by Hispanics (24%), blacks (21.4%) and whites (21.4%). With gender almost being split evenly.

Google’s Nexus tablet to Offer Magazine Subscriptions

Like many of you I have been waiting in anticipation for the release of the Google Nexus tablet, even if it is running Android 4.1. But now it appears that magazine publishers are eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Nexus tablet. Back in May, Google announced that Android developers would be able to add in-app subscriptions to apps. As a result, Google has reached out to a number of publishers about offering subscriptions. I expect Google to follow a similar model to that of Amazon and Apple. The rumor mill has the Nexus tablet being unveiled at Google's i/o conference later this month.

LinkedIn Hacked, 6.5 Million Accounts at Risk

Early Yesterday - Vincent Silveira, a Director at Linkedin, was not able to confirm that a security breach had occurred. Since then, Linkedin has confirmed the breach and has contacted the affected members asking them to change their passwords. With over 161 million members worldwide - members should be on high alert for fake Linkedin emails. I suspect that most members may ignore the notifications from Linkedin - suspecting that its some Russian hacker trying to get there password.
As in most cases involving a data breach - the company involved (Linkedin) usually hasn't taken appropriate precautions to secure member data. This can range from poor encryption methods (like Linkedin) to allowing sensitive data to be loaded on to personal laptops. My account information was compromised last year, when a database admin at a Cryogenics lab load customer data on to his laptop, which was stolen from his car.

Google’s Nexus Tablet, the Proof?

According to PhoneArena, A tipster sent them the images which reveal a black and white iPhone-like device. According to the article, the tipster said the tablet would be released with Android 4.1.

Google Decides to Buy Rather Than Build

Google announced that it has purchased Quickoffice, a small company that has a cool set of tools that allows users to edit Microsoft Office files and markup PDF's. Rather than investing more resource in developing a similar product - Google has opted to open up their check book.

Social Media Bubble?

In my earlier posts I warned of a social media bubble and whether it would pop. Weeks later Facebook is trading at $26 and Zynga has hit a 52-week low ($5.74) today. The DOW has dropped over 1200 points in a month. Can anyone say Pop! Zuckerberg is down another $500 million and Zynga is still in a state of free-fall. Zynga's situation has worsened, with the resignation of CTO Laurent Desegur, who left to work for start-up Game Closure.
More reading:
http://mediamixmaster.blogspot.com/2012/04/zynga-stock-continues-to-slide.html

China Ok's New Apple iPad

Last Week, the Chinese Telecommunications Bureaucracy granted a license to Apple allowing them to sell the latest iPad in mainland China. This is great news for Apple, who has battled counterfeit iPads makers/ retailers all over mainland China. Now that Chinese consumers can get their hands on the real thing look for iPad sales to skyrocket in China.

Google Asus Nexus Tablet Rumors to Appear This Month

The latest rumor surrounding the much anticipated Google tablet is that it will be unveiled at its I/O conference this month. This tablet is aimed putting out the Kindles Fire. The slate tablet sports a quad-core NVidia Tegra 3 processor (which actually has a hidden fifth core) clocked at 1.3GHz along with an NVidia ULP GeForce graphics processing unit.