Author Archives: Khoi

NYT: Rolling Stone to Switch to Smaller, Rack-Friendly Format

“Gary Armstrong, chief marketing officer for Wenner Media, pointed to Vanity Fair, which has lower overall circulation than Rolling Stone, but nearly three times the single-copy sales. With a standard format, he said, it should be possible to raise newsstand sales significantly.” Probably a smart but nevertheless a somewhat sad economic decision.

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Jean-Louis Gasée on MobileMe, Synchronization and “Launchpad Chicken”

Insightful if not conclusive commentary on what went wrong with Apple’s shaky launch of the MobileMe service, from a veteran of Apple. Gasée accurately characterizes seamless synchronization as an underestimated challenge, but lets Apple off too easily, in my opinion. They had more than just the lead up to MobileMe to get synching right; they also had the several years when they were running nearly the exact same service as .Mac. And it was hardly seamless then, too.

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NYT: The iTunes Store as Profit Machine

Saul Hansell contends that “the basic dynamics of the iTunes store are much better than those of Amazon,” and “the iTunes business model looks more profitable than that of eBay, which despite its current problems, has been the most successful e-commerce business in the world.”

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Reading Is Fundamental, Steve

Earlier this year, I quietly set out to prove Steve Jobs wrong. You may remember what I’m talking about: in that inimitably dismissive way that he has, the Apple CEO rejected the idea that the Amazon Kindle held much promise, contending that “Americans don’t read anymore.” It wasn’t that I wanted to prove him wrong on the Kindle (a product for which I find it hard to muster much enthusiasm). Rather, I wanted to disprove at least for myself his statement that “the fact is that people don’t read anymore.”

Jobs argued, “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year.” But somewhere along the way I got it in my head that to really prove anything to, well, myself, then I’d have to read a book a month, at least. So it’s two-thirds of the way through the year now. Here’s my progress.

Continue Reading …

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WDJ: Viability of Web Apps as a Replacement for Traditional Software

“Clearly, a growing number of companies are looking into outsourcing at least some of their IT infrastructure. Google says it signs up roughly 3,000 businesses a day for its online bundle of programs… Whereas Microsoft Office can cost as much as US$500 for each version installed, a premium version of Google Apps for businesses is available for US$50 a year per user. A standard version, which includes advertising, is free for small businesses.”

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Ronald Chevalier

“I’m Dr. Ronald Chevalier, acclaimed author of science fiction novels and novellas such as ‘Cyborg Harpies,’ ‘Brain Cream,’ and the all-new novel ‘Brutus & Balzaak.’ Welcome to my official internet website.” Viral promo site for the forthcoming movie from “Napoleon Dynamite” director Jared Hess, called “Gentleman Broncos.”

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