Marc Randolph, co-founder of Netflix:
But what is truly mindblowing, is that when I was CEO trying to screw up my nerve to walk away from selling DVDs, I risked alienating tens of thousands of customers. Reed is showing that he has courage and conviction to do the right thing despite having tens of millions of them.
This is why this guy is the best entrepreneur on the planet.
(via Arnold Kim)
I don’t believe that assistant will require the next iPhone. Siri works remarkably well, and does most of the functionality that Assistant seems to have: location awareness and contextual searching, contact recognition, and the usual things that make a phone smart. Yes, the answers may take more time on an A4 chip, but the results should be the same.
And if it doesn’t require new hardware, then consider this a dud release for existing iPhone 4 owners. The iPhone 4 is already incredible fast for my usage and has an excellent display. iOS 5 runs well on it. If we take 9to5’s article to be fact, this upgrade will not be as remarkable as the 3GS was for the 3G.
Yesterday we posted about the likelihood that Meg Whitman would be taking over as CEO of HP. It is now official, Whitman will be taking over as President and CEO of HP.
Just like that, Apotheker already is on the outs. Talks now point to Meg Whitman as the new CEO, who was formerly the CEO from eBay. Bring in an eCommerce girl and take out the enterprise guy? Sounds like they want to do more than just spin-off the PC business.
Woah, it has been a while! Chris and Tarun discuss Windows 8; Yahoo! and the ousting of Carol Bartz; iPhone carriers of the future; Netflix’s terrible decision making; Google+’s opening up to the public; Foursquare hitting a billion check-ins; Safari v. Chrome for Mac OS X. Thanks for sticking with us and tuning in!
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:51 — 66.1MB)
It’s official that T-Mobile will not be getting the iPhone 5, at least according to the CMO. Many were hoping that the iPhone 5 would be available for all 4 major carriers this round.
The pithy, casual language in Foursquare’s post makes this even more awesome.
Google+ is now in Beta, which means anyone can sign up and you don’t need an invite. Additionally, they have made some improvements to Hangouts — you can video chat over mobile phone (Android 2.3 only).
Check out Hangouts with extras. The whole service is what Wave should have been.
Netflix is systematically killing the DVD-by-mail model off:
Finally, Chrome gets an update that increases speed, adds full screen mode and supports Safari-like gestures.
On September 18th, AT&T will officially launch it’s “true 4G” LTE network. AT&T has been calling it’s beefed up HSPA+ service 4G, but speeds were much slower than that of Verizon’s LTE network. AT&T has promised speeds that could reach as high as 28Mbps!
Steve Ballmer:
There is no phone, there is nothing on the tablet, there is no operating system on the planet that will ship 350 million units of anything other than Windows.
But in the long term, the PC market as a whole is shrinking. Right before Ballmer’s eyes. Also keep in mind the usage of the word “ship”, which is far different than “sold”.
Interesting design choice with the text smiley, but a marked improvement from the hexadecimal error page
Microsoft announced it is launching its new Windows 8 Operating System to developers this week. Windows 8, much like OS X Lion, is integrating features of its mobile OS with its desktop OS.
Kara Swisher:
The company’s statement said that the high-profile blogger had “decided” to move on, which was a decided understatement, given that the negotiations between the pair sometimes approximated a cage match.
As we discussed last week in the podcast, video games continue to be on the decline. It looks like August did nothing but confirm that for all of us. The video game market is down 23% from where it was last year.
John Gruber:
I’ve always been interested in Apple’s products because of their superior design; the business side of the company was never of as much interest. But at this point, it seems clear to me that however superior Apple’s design is, it’s their business and operations strength — the Cook side of the equation — that is furthest ahead of their competition, and the more sustainable advantage.
Good insight here. A company that could possibly match the economies of scale that Apple has introduced is Samsung. They make almost every core PC part, even processors. It wouldn’t be that big of a leap for the company to spin-off to be a scaled PC manufacturer. Nevertheless, Apple’s marriage of production and design is unlike any we have ever seen in the computing industry.
This is impressive, but it isn’t a bloated, final-release version either.
The computer in the video is a Core i7 with an SSD (via the YT comments), so the thought is that this would “rival” MacBook Air boot times. How fast the boot is on a computer without an SSD?
A story of heated romance and desire, beautifully narrated in this summary report.
The whole saga should never have happened — It is a ridiculous conflict of interest to invest in companies you report on, even if you leave the company (or are fired from it).
Henry Blodget, CEO of SAI:
It’s not an instant miracle cure, of course. Fixing Yahoo will take time.
But it is, if we do say so ourselves, the sort of plan that Yahoo has been sorely lacking for the last couple of years.
Ouch.
While the stake of this shareholder is unknown, it is still telling that the shareholder, Jaguar Financial, is essentially telling RIM to throw in the towel before it’s too late.
The status quo is not acceptable, the company cannot sit still. It is time for transformational change. The directors need to seize the reins to maximize shareholder value before more market value is lost.
Kara Swisher has the scoop:
The situation around the departure is unclear, but Bartz has had a very rocky tenure in her 30 months at the company.
Tarun and Chris talk about Amazon’s entrance into the tablet arena; HP’s continued failings; AOL’s potential as a “buy”; the AT&T and T-Mobile marriage; Final Cut Pro 7’s triumphant return; Gamestop’s great decision to sell iOS devices. Like the podcast? Please add a comment and rate us on iTunes. Thanks for tuning in.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:28 — 67.5MB)
Sprint has previously come out and stated their displeasure with the AT&T, T-Mobile merger, but they have now officially sued to stop this deal from going through. Sprint’s actions mark yet another roadblock for AT&T in what is shaping up to be a very interesting merger.
Via 9to5 Mac. This is just further validation that the console age is dying. Hey Nintendo and Microsoft, are you reading this?