Google is trying to walk a middle road here, and, whatever the pitfalls, it seems to be doing a pretty good job so far. Continue reading

You can access the AOL.com, read all of its content, and check your aol.com e-mail without paying a dime. If you already pay for an account, however, AOL will continue to bill you. And evidently, that makes AOL a LOT of money. Continue reading

Although the number still can't quite match the abundance of Apple's App Store, the Android market is chock full of great applications. But with thousands to choose from, where do you start? Start with these 10 must-have Android apps and you can't go wrong. Continue reading

Don't think I said anything that would make The Soup. So that is something. Continue reading

Apple launched the iPad 2 today amidst the predictable buzz and hype. The technical improvements are relatively modest, but that won't matter much. The real story is that one year after the iPad's launch, the rest of the industry still has nothing that can touch it in terms of usability, platform strength, or even price. Yes, there will be a LOT of tablets hitting the market this year. The HP TouchPad, BlackBerry Playbook, and Honeycomb-based devices, like the Motorola Xoom, are all seem very promising. But don't kid yourself, as Charlie Sheen would say: the iPad is Winning. Continue reading

Sub Warfare: Google and Apple Offer Rival Subscription Payment Plans Continue reading

HP announced no less than five products yesterday at a San Francisco event that tried for two hours to match the enthusiasm that Steve Jobs can create just by walking on stage in black turtleneck and pair of jeans. (Be... Continue reading

What can an undemocratic government to do to control its people? If tear gas and rubber bullets don't work, take away their Twitter and Facebook access, of course. And if the people still don't fall into line, cut off their... Continue reading

Without a doubt, the Apple iPad was the most coveted and gifted gadget this holiday season. With prices starting at $500, it isn't a casual purchase, but nonetheless it made the top of almost everyone's wish list. Even among children age 6 to 12, it was the number one gadget request, leaving the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PaperJamz guitars in the dust. So let's say you were lucky enough to snag an iPad, now what? Continue reading

It has been a long time coming, but the FCC finally managed to bring a set of general rules for managing how the Internet can and can't be used in the U.S. To the right-wing free market corporate-types, the mere fact that a government agency could presume to have a say in how a private service like Internet access is sold is heresy. Continue reading

For the last 16 months*, I have proudly carried a Palm Pre, despite the snickers of iPhone fanatics and attacks by Android fanboys. I was a Palm loyalist and had been using Palm products since the days of the original Pilot. Continue reading

Barnes & Noble will be making some big Nook announcements this afternoon at a press conference in New York City, but the one question on everyone's mind will be: How is the nook going to compete against the Amazon Kindle? Continue reading

HP finally released details about its much anticipated Slate product. We now have a name, Slate 500 Tablet PC, and a price, $799, but what seems to be lacking is a clear market for the device. Talk to HP and they are very clear it this isn't a consumer product designed to go up against the Apple iPad, and it is a good thing, too. It would get crushed. That said there is a chance—not a guarantee—that it is could catch on in vertical segments, for a these five reasons. Continue reading

Windows Phone 7 made an auspicious debut this week in New York. Microsoft showed off handsets from Samsung, HTC, LG, and even Dell. Continue reading

Last weekend, I brought my Cablevision set-top box back to the store and told them I was cancelling my service. Continue reading

Apple reported a quarterly income of more than $20 billion yesterday, which, for most CEOs, would make for a very good day. Continue reading

Facebook announced Groups this week to "make it easier to share things with a small group of friends." After all, it is great to connect with co-workers, industry contacts and family members on Facebook, but each social network is different--my mom doesn't care about this new Android phone and my boss doesn't need to know about my sister's dog in Australia. Facebook Groups go a long way toward solving this problem. Just don't kid yourself that Groups makes sharing on Facebook any more private or secure. Continue reading

The Apple iPad went on sale six months ago. Having been lucky enough to get some hands-on time with the device before it hit shelves, I knew it would do well. It was head-and-shoulders above anything else on the market.... Continue reading

The Obama administration is "preparing to seek sweeping new regulations for the Internet" in order to make wiretapping easier, according to The New York Times. These rules would almost certainly require communication providers to create backdoors the government could use to intercept communications, presumably those of international terrorists, drug smugglers, and other assorted criminals. Continue reading

Bezos's vision for the Kindle has always been the reader, the book, and almost invisible device between the two. It is a pretty thought, no doubt more comforting than the idea of pitting the mono-function Kindle against the multimedia powerhouse that is the Apple iPad. Still, it is fundamentally wrong. Continue reading

Even as participants at this year's ThinkMobile Conference showed off their latest Apple iPad apps, they expressed a deep exasperation at the effort and cost required to build separate applications for every mobile platform. After all, the iPad is just the latest in a long line of mobile platforms that developers and content providers must support in order to reach new audiences, a range that now includes the iPhone, Android, Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Badu, Symbian, and, if one feels charitable, Palm's webOS. Meanwhile, everyone I spoke to said that the future was really in mobile Websites based on open Internet standards. So what is the hold up? Continue reading

The Amazon Kindle launched the e-book market as we know it this week with the Tuesday introduction of a $139 Wi-Fi version of the device. The release shows how the company plans to continue to lead in the segment: focus on reading. Continue reading

The last few weeks saw two attempts to game the messy business that is social media influence: one by forward-thinking business magazine, Fast Company, and the other by a venerable packaged goods manufacturer, Proctor & Gamble. As a regular reader and fan of Fast Company, it's clear that the magazine should have the upper hand in this. Unfortunately, its Influence Project comes across as literal, artificial, and self-serving. P&G's Old Spice commercial, other hand, seems certain to become a landmark in interactive advertising. All because the Old Spice Guy brought the funny. Continue reading

The back story behind this clip is that I was 20 minutes early for my scheduled Fox Business hit only to find out that my segment was moved up by 20 minutes. It was wicked hot in NYC that day and I was drenched with sweat. Worse still, when I sat down, I had no idea that the cameras were rolling. Continue reading

Great CNBC clip. Larry Kudlow accuses me of "white washing" for Apple at the 4:20 mark. Has he ever used an iPhone? Continue reading