Into Tech

Sometimes it’s fun to look back on predictions from a few years back. lavi d writes in to point out a 2001 Microsoft press release that he came across while looking for something else. The press release touts new DRM technologies coming out of Microsoft, which is amusing if you know anything about Microsoft’s history with DRM. But the really key part of the press release was a VP from the record label EMI insisting:

“Nearly all the new media business models require a robust DRM solution to be successful. Microsoft’s continued innovation and commitment to quality sound in Windows Media is helping us develop profitable new ways of connecting music fans with the artists they love.”

And how did that turn out? Well, as we’re increasingly discovering, very few new media business models require any sort of DRM, and in fact, DRM seems to damage business models a lot more than it helps them. And, Microsoft’s forays into the space have hardly done very much in helping musicians develop “profitable new ways” to connect music fans to artists.

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For years, we’ve given examples of how DRM ends up screwing over customers one way or another. One of the most obvious ways is when that DRM requires files to “check in” over the internet to work, and the company that manages the “check in” server takes it down. That’s what’s Microsoft announced it was doing with its incredibly-misnamed “PlaysForSure” DRM servers back in April. This was, effectively, going back on the terms of the deal they offered to music buyers. Following the outcry in response, however, it appears that Microsoft has reconsidered, saying that it will keep the servers running at least until 2011. So for the 35 people or so who bought into the PlaysForSure system, you have another 3 years to find new DRM-free sources of music.

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My puny Vaio laptop has a weenie sub-80GB hard disk drive that I’ve been promising to upgrade but, considering that all the other components could do with an overhaul too, it would be a waste of cash.

Still, I wouldn’t say no to a laptop with the new Spinpoint M6 hard disk drive from Samsung, boasting three 167GB platters for a 500GB drive. Touted as the “world’s biggest and fastest” laptop hard disk drive, the M6 spins at 5,400rpm, has an 8MB cache, 3.0Gbps SATA interface and an optional Free-Fall-Sensor. It meets Microsoft’s fast-boot design requirements and supports ramp load and unload of up to 600,000 times.

So what fits on a 500GB hard disk drive? [cue the silly photo stats...]

Tired of watching your wine-glasses topple of that crappy wicker coffee table you bought in Oxfam for a tenner? Or maybe you just want something all shiny and happy in the middle of the room? That’s good enough for me.

Take a look at Born Rich’s Top 10 techie coffee tables of all time. I’m not sure I agree with the Microsoft Surface being Number 1. since I tend to like the odder, ‘looks-over-real life-functionality’ appeal of some of the others.

Take the WAVE LED Coffee Table [ranked 9th] above, which is stimulated by movement on its surface.

LinkedIn, the social networking website that helps business contacts and former colleagues keep in touch, has joined the exclusive club of dotcom companies to secure a billion dollar valuation after a fresh round of venture capital funding.

The company, based just down the road from Google in Mountain View California, has received $53m (£27m) in new cash from investors in a funding round lead by private equity firm Bain Capital that values LinkedIn at $1bn (£512m).

Other investors included Sequoia Capital, which backed YouTube before it was snapped up by Google for $1.65bn in stock two years ago, and existing investor Bessemer Venture Partners. Also putting in cash is Greylock Partners who became involved with LinkedIn back in October 2004, in its second fund raising.

The fundraising is the latest evidence of the growing hype around social networking which was set off three years ago by News Corp’s $580m grab for MySpace.

Since then AOL has snapped up Bebo for $850m while in May, American cable company Comcast paid $175m for Plaxo, which was set up in 2001 as an online address book for professionals and has since grown into a popular social networking tool.

But it was Facebook that really set the benchmark for the industry last year when Microsoft saw off competition from Google and Yahoo to buy a small stake in the company in a deal that slapped a $15bn valuation on the social networking site just three years after it was set up by Harvard drop-out Mark Zuckerberg.

Facebook had previously received a number of approaches from Yahoo rumoured to have valued the business at $1bn and $1.6bn.

LinkedIn is also understood to have received takeover interest, but decided instead to retain its independence. Chief executive Dan Nye said yesterday that his hope is that the company will, “at some point” seek a flotation .

Unlike some other dotcom businesses which have received eye-watering valuations, LinkedIn actually makes a profit, by selling adverts on its site and charging users for some extra features.

Set up in 2003 by former PayPal executive Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn has 23 million members and claims to be adding a million more every month. But it is dwarfed by Facebook with over 116 million users worldwide.

LinkedIn, however, reckons its users are older and wealthier than the average Facebook user making them more attractive to advertisers. While Facebook is dominated by the younger end of the age spectrum, the average LinkedIn user is 41 years old and makes more than $100,000 a year.

LinkedIn makes money from online job adverts and gives large corporations the ability to use its system for recruitment. It reckons it will generate revenues this year of between $75m and $100m, about twice what it managed last year. The new cash will be used to expand the business into Europe and seek potential acquisitions.

European managing director Kevin Eyres said: “Europe is an integral part of LinkedIn’s growth strategy.”

Just last month, Microsoft announced its desperation plan of bribing users to use Microsoft’s search. Basically, if you bought certain products via a Microsoft search, Microsoft would pay you cash back. And, of course, as soon as the cash got involved, it didn’t take long for people to find loopholes. Various messages boards are highlighting how this works, but the end result is that people are buying $630 in cash for $715 (via Whitney McNamara), knowing that Microsoft will pay them “cash back” that more than makes up the difference — in some cases up to $250. So, in that case, the seller of the “cash” ends up making $85, and the “buyer” makes $165. Microsoft, of course, is out the $250. Talk about arbitrage.

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LinkedIn, the social networking website which helps business contacts and former colleagues keep in touch, has joined the exclusive club of dotcom companies to secure a billion dollar valuation after a fresh round of venture capital funding.

The company, based just down the road from Google in Mountain View California, has received $53m in new cash from investors in a funding round lead by Bain Capital that valued LinkedIn at $1bn (£512m). Other investors included Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.

The fundraising is the latest evidence of the growing hype around social networking which was sparked three years ago by News Corp’s $580m grab for MySpace.

Since then AOL has snapped up Bebo for $850m. But it was Facebook that set the benchmark for the industry last year when Microsoft saw off competition from Google and Yahoo to buy a small stake in the company in a deal that slapped a $15bn valuation on the social networking site just three years after it was set up.

Facebook had previously received a number of approaches from Yahoo which valued the business at $1bn and $1.6bn.

Unlike some other dotcom businesses which have received eye-watering valuations, LinkedIn actually makes a profit by selling adverts on its site and charging users for some extra features.

The company reckons it will generate revenues this year of between $75m and $100m, about twice what it managed last year.

LinkedIn, set up in 2003 by former PayPal executive Reid Hoffman, has 23 million members but is dwarfed by Facebook which has over 116 million. The company, however, reckons its users are older and wealthier than the average Facebook user making them more attractive to advertisers.

LinkedIn already makes money from online job adverts and gives major corporations the ability to use its system for recruitment.

In a surprise hook-up, the BBC has announced that it will be porting its iPlayer catch-up TV service to the Nintendo Wii console.

The insanely popular iPlayer service, which has just reported 42 million downloads and streams in the last 3 months, will be a channel on the Wii’s Internet Channel.
Once the iPlayer service for Wii [...]

In a surprise hook-up, the BBC has announced that it will be porting its iPlayer catch-up TV service to the Nintendo Wii console.

The insanely popular iPlayer service, which has just reported 42 million downloads and streams in the last 3 months, will be a channel on the Wii’s Internet Channel.
Once the iPlayer service for Wii [...]

Microsoft really wants Yahoo. In fact , it wants it so badly that if the Yahoo board doesn’t respond more favourably to the initial offer of $45 billion, it’s going to reduce the offer and go straight to the shareholders.
This is the bullish Steve Ballmer we all know and…. well, know, really. The [...]